A New Hope
by Firestorm
Summary: When Sage and Thunder, a mysterious boy that has come to Japan, are captured by the Warlords, it's up to the Ronins to go and rescue them. Can they do it? Or will they be captured too?
1. Chapter 1

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Disclaimer: I don't own the Ronin Warriors or Casey. RW belongs to Sunrise and Casey belongs to M-chan! All other characters on here, I do own, and please ask me before you use them! And if you want to use Casey you have to ask M-chan!

**A New Hope**

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Chapt. 1.

Casey ran down the hall of Hana School as fast as she could as she clutched her backpack tightly. She was late again, and no doubt she would get detention. But it wasn't her fault her alarm clock had suddenly decided to stop working! Like the teachers didn't know that mechanical things can and do break down every once in a while. She knew she had set it last night before she had gone to bed. When she had woken up to the sun and saw her clock stuck on 10:00 P.M, she panicked and had raced around the room in a hurry to get dressed as fast as she could. Now here at school she quickly made her way down the hall toward her locker.

She passed the front office and paused to take a peep through the glass windows. There was a tall boy standing there at the desk and filling out forms. His hair was blond and long coming into a V just past his neck. Must be a new student, she thought, before she hurried off down the hall once more. 

She got to her locker and did the combination to it, then had to kick it a few times before the stupid locker would open. In a flash of hurry she practically threw her text books inside the locker, keeping out only her Algebra 1, English, Science, and Health books out with the proper notebooks and folders, and pens she would need for her classes for the first four periods of school. Grabbing her books, she kicked her locker shut and snapped the lock on it, then turned and headed for her second period class. 

Rowen Hashiba glanced up with a small smile as his girlfriend Casey McCarthy slipped into the room of the English class. A sheepish look was on her face as she tried to approach her desk.

"Late again are we, Miss McCarthy?" Miss Patterson said calmly as she looked toward the young girl.

Casey could feel her cheeks turning red as everyone started to stare at her. Damn, she hated being the center of attention. She nodded meekly, offering no excuse to the teacher, knowing full well the teacher would not accept it anyhow. 

"Don't let it happen again," Miss Patterson said as she bent her eyes down to look at her attendance sheet. Casey mumbled a, "Yes, ma'am," and went to her desk as the teacher marked her in.

"Hey," Rowen whispered to her as he smiled at her. She smiled back, blue eyes twinkling when she looked at him. The two had been going steady for about three months now, and every time they saw each other that relationship deepened. Rowen pointed out what page they were on, and she gave him a grateful look as she flipped through several pages in her English book before she came to the right page. She opened her notebook up to a clean piece of paper and started to do her work, when Miss Patterson asked, "Casey, do you have your homework from yesterday?"

Casey put her pencil down, then opened up her homework folder and took out her completed homework as she stood up and took it to the teacher. She returned to her desk, and then to her work. 

Silence was in the classroom as the students worked. Nearby Cye Mouri paused in his writing to figure out the meaning of sentence number 10. Shouldn't be really too hard though. Across from him Sage Date was working feverishly as if his life depended on getting his work done in time. It was amazing how the school's most wanted bachelor could write so quickly and still write very neatly at the same time. 

The door opened then slowly, and all work ceased as a blond haired boy about six feet tall stepped into the room. Instantly almost all the girls had caught their breath at the sight of him as he stepped toward the teacher carrying a slip of paper in one hand. Casey could see why. The boy was very handsome, but was even more surprising was that he resembled Sage, just with a few slight differences. His blond hair covered his left eye completely, and his hair was a tad longer, not as thick or poofy-looking as Sage's. (no offense to Sage fans, it's the best way I can describe Sage's hair. ^^; )

The boy walked up to the teacher as the girls followed his every move. He walked silently, yet gracefully, and kept his attention on the teacher as he handed her the paper.

"Ah, so you're the new student I was expecting today," Miss Patterson said as she looked at the paper. The boy nodded silently as he watched her mark him in the attendance record. She smiled up at him then, and he kept a nervous shudder within himself. Already he could feel the many eyes of females burning into him, and he cringed. He had been hoping this school would be different, where he didn't have to worry about every girl having the hots for him. And the way the teacher smiled at him, he knew even she had her eye on him. 

Casey shook her head sympathetically. She could always tell when a person felt nervous, and the way everyone was staring at the poor guy would be enough to make anyone nervous. It was surprising he didn't turn and flee out the door.

The teacher finally gave the boy a text book and told him what page they were on, and where to sit, before the boy turned and made his way to his assigned seat as the eyes of the girls followed him.

Geeze, Casey thought as she rolled her eyes. Leave the poor kid alone. She didn't say it out loud because she was afraid of embarrassing him. Instead she turned back to her work. 

"Girls," Miss Patterson said, "please turn around and do your work. I'm sure you can ask our new student questions later."

The girls groaned inwardly, but they turned around to do their work. The boy kept his head lowered, a blush on his face as he stared blankly at the page of his English book. Already he could tell this was not going to be a fun year.

But Sage Date, Cye Mouri, and Rowen Hashiba could all tell there was something mysterious about the new student. Each of them sensed a strong power coming from him, and Sage could also sense something even more. Was this another pawn from the Dynasty or just another kid with powers that would have to be protected from the Dynasty? 

During her work Casey paused momentarily to look up to see if the teacher was watching. Instead the teacher was busy grading yesterday's homework, which was fine with her. She took a brief moment to quickly write out a note, then folded the paper in airplane style before throwing it across the room at the new student. 

The new student felt it hit him in the forehead, and frowned down at it. It was probably a love note or something. He decided to ignore it for now and turned back to his work.

Casey huffed a bit. Geeze, why couldn't he just open up the darn thing and read it for goodness sake?

Nearby, Rowen raised an eyebrow at her and she grinned at him sheepishly. What was she doing? he wondered. He decided to put it to rest for now as he returned back to his work. 

The boy continued to work, feeling frustrated with it. Why couldn't he do English? It had always been a tough subject for him and even with all the help he had gotten in the past, he still had trouble. He glanced again at the paper airplane then started opening it when a neatly folded piece of paper landed on his desk.

Casey smacked her forehead and shook her head sympathetically. The poor guy, she thought. The love notes from the adoring fans have started already. She grimaced as she knew that half of these girls passing the notes to the new boy had jocks for football players. It was bad enough they flirted with Sage, but to flirt with the new kid as well? 

More notes were passed to the new student, and Casey curled her lip in disgust. Sluts, she thought to herself. She was glad she was loyal to Rowen. Thinking about him and even seeing Rowen made her smile as she glanced momentarily at the new student in time to see him reading the note she had thrown at him. She smiled once and went back to her work.

The boy read the note silently to himself. _Be careful, and watch out for the jocks and football players in this school_. He folded the note carefully, not the least bit concerned. He had handled far more worse than jocks and football players. He saw the other note lying there and held a sigh within as he opened it, and read it as well. _Do you have girlfriend_? A frown instantly came to his lips and he wished he could just disappear right then and there.

Casey was working silently when the teacher suddenly called her name. She looked up, lowering her pencil. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Why were you throwing notes during my class?" Miss Patterson asked.

"Um, it was a paper airplane, ma'am."

Miss Patterson sighed and shook her head. "Casey, this is English class. Don't let it happen again."

"Yes, ma'am." Casey sighed to herself and went back to her work, grumbling about why the perky girl behind her hadn't been caught as well.

Nearby Cye was silently watching the new kid out of the corner of his eye. He could sense something from him and he wasn't exactly sure what it was. He tried to concentrate on his work, but it seemed impossible now. Finally he connected telepathically with Rowen and Sage. _'Hey guys, is it just me or is there something strange about that new kid?'_

'There's something strange about him,' Rowen replied. _'He feels different than your average kid.'_

'And if that's not enough for you, his crazy resemblance to me has me a bit wary,' Sage said.

__

'Feeling threatened, Sage?' Rowen asked with a snicker. He could feel Sage giving him a glare, but didn't let on that he knew.

__

'No!' Sage snapped at him. 

Casey finished her work, and let out a bored yawn as she stared up the ceiling. She always found it interesting to count how many tiles there were on the ceiling. How did they fit those things up there and make it appear as one smooth ceiling without so much of a crevice in it at all? You couldn't even tell they were tiles unless you looked very closely. So far she had counted thirty-six of them, and she was still working her way through as she knew there had to be more.

Across the room, the new boy continued struggling with his work when two more notes landed on his desk. He ignored them and spent his time blinking at his work, and wishing he could get out of class.

Casey glanced toward him. She could read that look on his face as she had that same look when it came to math. She quickly wrote another note, made it into an airplane, double checked to make sure the teacher wasn't watching, then sent it flying across the room where it landed on the boy's desk again. 

He looked at it and opened it up. _Having trouble? I can tell by the look on your face._

He didn't acknowledge the note, but he did wonder who kept throwing them. He felt another airplane coming toward him, and quickly caught it as he looked toward Casey. When he saw her grin at him, he looked away quickly, the nervousness building up in him.

Casey kept an exasperated sigh within herself as she wrote another note once again and folded it into another airplane, tossing that one too at the new student. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at him, watching as he opened that one up too.

__

Look you're cute and everything, but I have a boyfriend. Blue boy with the headband sitting right in front of me. I'm just offering some help that's all. So don't be scared. I won't bite. 

The boy felt extremely relieved about that, but still had a look of mistrust in his eyes. Ever since he could remember he had been chased after by girls, and he had even been abducted by a few crazy women attracted to him, which was really disgusting considering they had been twice his age. But some of those women had had power to them, darkness, an evilness to them that had given him nightmares for weeks straight. He suddenly heard the bell rang.

"Yes!" Casey shouted happily as she leapt from her seat and gathered up her things. "I can speak!"

Rowen chuckled as he gathered up his own books. "Usually you hate for this class to end."

"Yeah, well, the teacher didn't like me today," Casey mumbled. 

Rowen only chuckled as he walked out with her, one arm around her shoulders. Sage followed behind a grin on his face as Cye walked beside him. They were suddenly aware of many girls standing around someone down the hall and Casey could already guess _who_ they were surrounding.

Cye cocked his head. "Hey, Sage, aren't those your fans over there?"

Sage nodded and started walking toward the girls in a dramatic fashion. "Ladies, I'm here!"

But they ignored him, sounds of giggling and constant chattering emerged from their tight cluster. Casey suddenly got an idea, and shouted out in crazed fan-girl's voice as she looked down the hall behind her. "OH MY GOSH!! IS THAT N'SYNC?!!!!"

The girls all suddenly screamed wildly and ran down the hall, their eyes and hearts set on seeing the hot boy band itself. Casey looked back toward the new boy and saw him quickly walking off. Eh, so much for gratitude, she thought sourly.

Sage stood there, shocked, watching the mob of girls run down the hall. "My fans…" he moaned.

Cye shook his head and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Come on, Sage. We have to get to class."

Sage only moaned more as Cye dragged him. "My fans…"

Casey only chuckled to herself as she and Rowen followed behind. 

(Special Note from author: Thanks M-chan (AKA Casey) for the help of this fic, and for letting me borrow Casey. Good luck with your own fics as well! Can't wait to read more of them!)


	2. Chapter 2

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A New Hope

Chapt. 2.

The boy sat down at his third period class with a grimace. Here in History class the girls were staring at him as well. He let out a sigh and kept his head down to avoid looking back at any of them. He knew if he was to look at them in the face they would flirt with him even more. 

The teacher came in then and begin to get organized at his desk as the students talked with each other or kept quiet. Thunder waited to go up to him to hand his attendance card to him. He heard a girl asking him what his name was, but was too shy to answer her. Why can't they leave me alone? he wondered helplessly. He was beginning to wish his own friends were here, but they weren't. He was forced to endure this, alone, like so many times before. He quickly put that thought out of his head, then noticed the teacher seemed less busy, so he rose up and headed for the front of the class.

Mr. Armkaki looked up at the new boy and shook his head. "I can see your year is going to be fun in here," he said as he marked him in.

Thunder nodded silently with a grimace. He could tell the teacher was being sarcastic about that. The teacher then handed him a book and gave him a list of rules for the class and told him to sit down, which Thunder did. And the first thing he noticed was a pile of love notes sitting on his desk.

Sage was still miffed as he sat in class, barely listening as Ms. Gamage, the Science teacher taught atoms and molecules. How could this have happened to me? he wondered. All my fans.. They suddenly start liking _that _guy? How dare that guy show up and steal all of his fans! It wasn't right! They were his in the first place! He let out a grumbled sigh and tried to concentrate on his work.

Somewhere else in another realm a large being sat on a dark throne, his eyes glowing brightly as his four dark warlords stood before him. A mirror was before them and they were watching the new student with eager eyes, wanting to know all they could about him. Talpa was very interested in the boy, having sensed incredible power from him. He was certain it could prove useful to the Dynasty.

"I want you to study this boy very very carefully," Talpa warned them all. "It is much better to know your subject before going after it. I want this boy captured as soon as possible so learn all you can about him. Do you understand me, Dark Warlords?

"Yes, master, we understand well," said Anubis. The others nodded in agreement to that. 

"Good. Then know this. Should you fail me, you will have the worst punishment known to mankind."

The four of them gulped, then teleported away to learn what they could and to possibly set up a trap for the boy.

Casey sat in math class idly tapping her pencil against her book as she wished it was time for her art class. She didn't really like math class at all, and she was stuck on problem 13. She thought about asking the teacher for help, but didn't want to seem stupid to him. Besides he looked pretty busy up there. She sighed, almost glaring at the problem before as she tried in vain to figure it out. She was about ready to throw the book across the room out of frustration. But then the image of the new boy appeared in her mind. She couldn't help it. There was something about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. For one he too was quiet in her opinion, but extremely good-looking. She wasn't attracted to him at all, but she could tell there was something mysterious about him, and she was determined to figure it out even if it took her forever.

She finally snapped out of her thoughts and turned back to her work. Finally she didn't care. She put down the answer she thought could possibly be right and continued on with her work. By the time she finished, she was sure her brain was going to explode from all of those numbers. How could Rowen stand to do math like that? she wondered with a smile as she thought of him. 

It was then she realized it was time for her next class. She quickly gathered her stuff up and bee-lined through the crowd of the other students and headed for the flight of stairs which would lead her to the second floor where her art class was. 

Ryo let out a yawn as he sat in class. The teacher Mr. Omaouy was lecturing types of music chords and notes. Ryo did his best to pay attention, but he could care less about learning music. He already knew what career he wanted when he graduated out of school. Then again with fighting evil every time he turned around he doubted he would be able to go after his dream. 

"Now this note right here is called the eighth note," the teacher was saying as he pointed to one of the notes. Then he went on to explain the usage and necessity of that note. The students paid attention and wrote down notes.

Ryo stared at the notes as each one was explained. A vague expression was on his face as he wondered why on earth he had to take this class. Yet he knew complaining about it was childish, and so he wrote down all the information Mr. Omaouy gave to them. He kept side glancing at his watch, wishing it was time to leave for his next class. 

Finally the teacher begin to play a few notes on the piano and had the class tell which song he had played.

"The Barney song," Mikio said with a roll of his eyes.

"Not quite," the music teacher said with a shake of his head. "This is the American song known as Yankee Doodle Dandy."

"Come on, Mr. Omaouy, we don't live in America," another student said.

"Correct, but it is important to learn about their culture, or any other country's culture. Now I am going to play a few notes. I want you tell me which notes those are. Listen carefully." He played a few more notes as the class listened carefully, then stopped and straightened up, looking at the class. "Now what notes were those?" he asked.

Ryo kept a vague expression on his face. He only recognized the C note and the quarter note. The rest he had no idea. He was hoping the teacher wouldn't call on him, knowing he'd feel embarrassed by not knowing.

The teacher's eyes went over the students, then finally he chose someone to answer. "Michelle?"

"Um, C note, quarter note.. And triple clef note."

"Correct. Now open your music books to page twenty five."

The books were open, and there was a song there. The teacher started playing music and then guided the class into singing the song. They ended up singing it several times until they had it right, then the teacher had them sing other songs, before handing out homework to them. 

Ryo kept a groan within himself. He had to make his own music and put it on a CD, then bring it to class the next day. How on earth was he going to do that?

The bell rang and Ryo all but hurried out of there.

The boy hurried down the hall, keeping a grimace to himself as girls left and right stared at him. He was actually tempted to run out the door and just go back to his hosts, but he knew he had to stay there. He tried his best to get through, but then he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder and he quickly whirled around to see a girl with dark purplish hair staring up at him with a flirting expression on his face.

"Hey, handsome, what's your name?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

He kept a gulp within his throat, and backed away some, wanting space. Of course with all the girls surrounding him, that was nearly impossible.

"Come on, what is it?" she pressed on. "My name is Haria."

"Thunder," he said very quietly and quickly. And with that he quickly turned and somehow escaped through the crowd.

Haria watched him go with a big dreamy smile on her face. "Thunder," she whispered to herself. "Wonder what your last name is?" She turned and walked away through the crowds.

The whole time from down the hall, jealous eyes had been watching everything that had gone on. He can't take my girls away, Sage thought darkly. I'll show him. Sage turned and stormed off to his next class.

Talpa watched this take place on his Viewing Mirror. A chuckle came from deep within him as his eyes flashed red. "So, Halo, is jealous of this boy. That could be used to our benefit as well." And deep laughter ran throughout his castle. 


	3. Chapter 3

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A New Hope

Chapter 3.

School finally let out, and the students practically swarmed out of their classes, determined to get their belongings to go home. Casey was extremely glad that school had been let out. It would give her more time to be with Rowen, perhaps go to the mall, visit her horse, and maybe hang with the new kid if she was lucky. In a lot of ways he reminded her of herself. She had been mostly quiet when she was the new kind, then she started hanging with Rowen, Cye, Kento, Ryo, and Sage, and her whole personality had changed. 

She made it to her locker with a happy yelp as she practically threw it open and begin to pack her things up. 

"Someone's happy," a voice said from behind her. 

She whirled around and promptly hugged Rowen. "Ro-chan!" she cried. "I missed you!"

He smiled, wrapping his arms around her, and drew her within a tender kiss, then pulled pack, gazing into her blue eyes. "Not as much as I missed you."

She blushed at that, but smiled even more. 

"So, are you ready to join up with the others and go home?" he asked, releasing his hold on her. 

"Yep!" she chirped as she shut her locker with her foot and smiled up at him even more. Rowen smiled back and the two headed up the hall, arm in arm. 

Thunder quietly made his way down the hall, grimacing as the girls seem to blow kisses his way. Why oh why couldn't they leave him be? All he wanted was a chance not to be mobbed or swamped by girls who would drool at him. And he had no plans to have a girlfriend. At least not yet. And when he did get a girlfriend it would be someone he could relate to, someone who understood how he felt, someone who would and could understand just how different he was to everyone else. Oh sure, everyone was different, but he was much more different than anyone could have realized. And at times, Thunder found himself wondering if he was truly human. 

He saw the exit doors of the school, up ahead and kept on walking. There was a monitor out in the hall and he heard him telling the students to hurry up and leave the premises so they could close the school down. Thunder was grateful to him in a way. By telling the students to hurry up and be on their way, it gave the flirtatious girls less chance to crowd around him. Already several times today he had been asked for a phone number, and he had received a hundred notes form a hundred different girls. And of course he had thrown them away. He already knew most of them wanted him because of his looks, and frankly he did not see why looks were so important. The spirit was much more important as his mentor had taught him a year ago. With a heavy sigh he made it to the exit and pushed his way through, stepping outside of the school, and right into an angry Sage.

Sage was glaring at the new student, jealousy racing through his veins. He wanted nothing more than to punch this kid in his face. He stood there, gazing into the other's eyes. The boy did not seem to be afraid of him, but stared back calmly at him, which was unnerving to him. And what was worse, sensing this energy from him. What boy was this? The more Sage thought about it, the more convinced he was that the boy was from the Dynasty.

Finally the boy spoke. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes, there is a problem," Sage retorted, his violet eyes flashing. "You are the problem. Coming here and stealing all of my girls from me!"

Thunder frowned. So this boy was jealous. Why was he though? There was no need to be jealous. He was hoping this would not turn into a fight. He really did not want to hurt him. "I did not come here to steal anyone's girls. They followed me. I am trying to stay away from them. Girls scare me. And if you had a heart somewhere in that jealous body of yours, you would try to understand things before judging them."

"Oh, I understand perfectly alright!" Sage shouted, his anger increasing.

The boy continued to stand there, feeling extremely sad now. Now he had made another enemy. Why couldn't life go right for him just for once? He stared into Sage's eyes with a small sigh. "I'm sorry if I have offended you in anyway. I wish nothing more than to be left alone."

Sage continued to glare at him, but the more he glared, the more he could see the boy's pain. And this was a different kind of pain. It made Sage's anger and jealousy slowly fade away as he begin to wonder what had happened to the boy to cause that kind of pain. He softened up some and backed away, with a nod of his head. "Fine then," he said. 

Thunder stared at him for one moment, then quickly left, feeling the other boy watching him as he did.

From across the street, on top of an apartment building, the four Warlords, Anubis, Cale, Dais, and Sekhmet had watched the whole event take place between Halo and the new kid. They had been expecting for Halo to hit the boy, but he had backed away for some odd reason. Now the new kid was making his way down the street, and Halo was just standing there.

Cale watched him for a few moments. What he wouldn't give to go and have some fun with Ronin of Halo for just a while. But orders were orders and already Anubis was following after the other boy. And so were Dais and Sekhmet. With a heavy sigh, Cale turned and followed as well.

Sage was still frowning as Ryo, Kento, Cye, and Rowen and Casey joined him on the lawn. The six of them immediately started heading for home, but Rowen could tell there was something on Sage's mind. Sage was extremely quietly and kept staring at the ground as he walked, something Sage never did. It was Casey who spoke up first.

"Hey, blondie, what's the matter? You look like a dog left outside in the rain."

Sage brought his face upward and stared at her with a sigh, then he lowered his head again, staring once more at the ground. "Nothing," he mumbled.

"Yeah right," Casey said with a roll of her eyes. "Your face does not agree to those words."

Sage made comment to that, but kept walking with his head down. This worried Rowen and the others.

"Sage, what's bothering you?" Ryo asked with concern.

"Like I said, nothing is bothering me, okay?" Sage replied.

Cye frowned. What was so wrong that Sage couldn't confide in them? He was hoping nothing had happened to make him feel this way.

Kento shrugged. "Well, whatever is bugging him, he can tell us when he's ready. For now let's just get home and get some food! I am starving!"

"And we are not surprised!" Casey said with a laugh.

Kento stuck his tongue at her, and Casey returned the favor. But the whole time they walked, Rowen, Ryo, and Cye worried about Sage.


	4. Chapter 4

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A New Hope

Chapt. 4

Thunder arrived back at the house he was staying at, and checked in with his hosts to tell them he was home for school. After doing so, he headed upstairs quietly to his room and went inside and closed the door behind him. He really didn't feel up to studying as today's events had left him feeling completely awkward. He felt restless and even agitated, yet calm all at the same time as he had been trained to remain calm in any situation. With a heavy sigh he plopped down at his desk and opened his backpack up and took out his Geography book to do his homework. He could barely keep concentrated on it.

He finally let out a sigh and gave up after an hour later. He needed to meditate to get through with the emotions plaguing him. He left his desk and sat quietly down on his bed and begin to meditate.

He didn't know what he was searching for, perhaps to calm himself? To find some answer to his emotions? It was easy to hide his emotions from most people, however his friends, his grandparents, and his mentor could always tell how he was feeling. But no one else could really. No one until he had met that other boy. Who was he anyway? That boy had been clearly able to see the pain in his soul, the agony in his mind. It bothered him a lot, and he wasn't sure how to handle this exactly. He drifted further into meditation, searching for answers or perhaps relief of some kind.

Mia looked up when Sage, Cye, Kento, and Ryo came into the house. She didn't see Rowen, but figured he had either gone off to the library or he took Casey home. She herself was busy going through some bills and figuring out her debts for this month. Sage really didn't pay much attention as everyone did their routine normal things. Cye got started on homework, Kento raided the fridge, and Ryo headed upstairs to change into his soccer uniform for his upcoming practice which was in one hour. Sage himself headed right for his room and stayed there, lying on his side and more or less gazing off into space. He didn't understand what was wrong with him. Never before had he felt so confused, so trapped, so heavy with an unexplainable feeling he could even begin to comprehend. His thoughts turned to the new boy. Who was he exactly? What had happened to this boy that caused him such pain, and why could he himself feel this pain? So many questions and so many answers. With a sigh, Sage closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

When he awoke he realized he had slept for two hours, and he was surprised he had fallen asleep to begin with. He hadn't really meant to fall asleep, it had just happened. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. He could hear voices downstairs and thought best to join everyone else before they started asking him what was wrong. He left the room and went downstairs. Rowen and Casey were there now, both cuddled up to each other on the love seat and watching some movie, Kento was on the floor looking through some wrestler cards, and Cye was in the kitchen cooking. Mia nor Ryo were home, and he figured they had gone to Ryo's practice game. Sage sat down on the other couch and just stared at the TV, not speaking to anyone.

"Hey, Sage!" Casey waved gaily.

"Hi," Sage said very softly, his eyes staring at the television, but his mind focused on something else.

Rowen frowned. He knew there was something bugging Sage. Why couldn't he just tell them? He wanted to help ease his mind but he couldn't if he didn't know what was wrong. He gave Sage a saddened look, and turned back to the TV, his mind more on Sage then the movie itself. 

Sage had seen Rowen's look, and knew what it was about. But he couldn't tell him anything. This was something he had to work out on his own, in his own time.

The four Warlords stood outside the small house they had all seen the other boy go in to. They stood in the trees, hidden carefully from anyone who might see them. They could see the boy sitting in meditation on his bed and for one moment Cale was reminded of Halo. For a long time they watched him, waiting to see if he would do something worth reporting back to Talpa. So far they had been there for more than twenty minutes, and Sekhmet wondered just how they were going to gain any information if nothing was being done to get that information. In his opinion he thought it would be better just to take the boy now, and learn about him later, but no, Talpa wanted it done this way. He hated waiting at times, and yet he continued to wait like the others.

The boy made no move. He sat there meditating as the hours seem to pass by. One could only wonder what he was meditating on. Anubis watched him like a hawk, studying him closely, trying to get a feel of his power. He wondered if he could perhaps somehow get into his mind and find out about the boy in that way. He decided to try it. But no sooner when he did when the boy suddenly snapped his eyes open and stared straight at him from where he sat on the bed. 

Anubis was taken aback. Never had he expected someone to take notice to what he had just tried to do. Especially one not connected to the Nine Armors. It was baffling and left him without a sense of purpose. He was completely stunned and trying to figure out how in the world the boy had sensed him.

"Anubis?" Dais spoke softly, seeing the look in his leader's eyes.

"He.. he sensed me.."

The three of them followed his look. They could see the boy staring back at Anubis, but there were no emotion in his eyes. They looked back at Anubis, and like him, tried to figure out how the boy had been able to do as such. When Cale looked back toward the boy through the window from where he sat with the other Warlords in the tree, the boy was gone. 

Sekhmet let out a sigh and crossed his arms. "At least we have something to report," he said dryly. "No mere boy would have been able to sense Anubis like that. And we all know he's not connected to the Nine Armors."

"But what if he is?" Cale asked.

"Nonsense!" Dais bellowed. "We all know Master Talpa's armor was made into only nine armors by that monk, the Ancient One. There are no more armors."

Cale shrugged carelessly. "Let's just report back to Master Talpa and find out what he wants us to do next."

They teleported away, going back to the Dynasty.

Thunder walked into the kitchen and watched as his hostess, Tae

Tsukiyama stirring some noodles on the stove. He could smell the aroma of butter, spice and herbs within the air, and realized how hungry he felt. 

Tae smiled at him. "How are you today, Thunder? Enjoying your stay with us?"

He nodded shyly. "Yes, ma'am. And I can't thank you enough for allowing me to."

She laughed a bit. "It is no problem. It gives my two daughters Tamaki and Samora

some company. They've seen to take quite a liking to you."

So does every other girl, Thunder thought bitterly. He had met the two girls yesterday when Mr. Tsukiyama had picked him up from the Tokyo International Airport. Tamaki was a typical shy teenage girl who enjoyed reading. She was only thirteen years old and wore glasses that helped with poor vision. She was mostly quiet, but did smile now and then. Her sister Samora was a year older, and loved to talk it seemed. She was pretty friendly and more outgoing than her younger sister, and was a cheerleader at their Junior High School.

Tae stirred the noodles once more, watching the sauce thicken like paste, and lowered the heat on it. She had to let it simmer for about ten minutes until it was thick enough to be served. She glanced briefly at Thunder who was getting himself a glass of milk from the refrigerator. "I almost forgot to ask you. Did you do your homework?"

He lowered his glass and his eyes. "I tried to, but I couldn't concentrate."

She raised her eyebrows. "Bad day in school?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah.."

"Do you wish to talk about it?"

Thunder hesitated. He studied her face and could see she was genuinely concerned. She wasn't just being nosy, but she really wanted to help him. He told her all of what happened and she sympathized with him as she listened. When he finished she turned the stove off and said, "Yes, kids at school can be cruel that way. But don't let them get to you. If you let people get to you they'll control you without trying to. Understand what I'm saying?" He nodded his head, and she continued on. "Just show him the real you, be a friend to him. My mother always taught me no matter how cruel someone treats you, always treat them with gentleness and kindness. You can always turn a hateful creature into a loving being."

Thunder stood there, drinking his milk, and thinking about what she said. What she had said made sense, but he had a feeling the other boy wasn't really cruel at all. He was only jealous and confused, and Thunder knew he would have to show him there was nothing to be jealous about. The question was how was he going to do that?

Talpa's eyes flashed when his four Warlords had told him the news. He was rather pleased with what he had just learned. "So, now we have a vague idea about this mere boy. No normal boy is able to sense a bearer of mystical armor unless he has some power. What else has he has done?"

"Nothing as of yet, Master Talpa," Anubis replied. 

"Then go back and watch him some more! Have soldier attack him or something! I want to see what other powers he's got!" Talpa ordered forcefully.

"Yes, master, as you wish." The four bowed before him, and vanished together to carry out his orders.


	5. Chapter 5

****

A New Hope

Chapt. 5

Casey felt bored as she stared blankly at the movie that was on. She didn't know why it didn't interest her. There was plenty of action, romance, and thriller combination in it, but it seemed so dull. She yawned as a result of it.

"Tired?" Rowen asked as he looked down at her.

"No, bored," she replied, letting her feet rest across his lap.

He gave a small smile. "Could always do your homework," he suggested, which resulted her into sticking her tongue out at him. 

"I dun feel like it," she said, crossing her arms.

"Why not?"

"Cause."

"Cause why?"

"Cause I just don't."

Rowen shook his head. "Better get it done soon then, otherwise the teachers will flip at you not having your homework ready for tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know," she said lazily. "It'll get done!" 

He smirked at that. Casey always had a way of waiting until the last minute to get her work done, then rush right through it to have it ready on time. What amazed him was that she could still get it all right, and still learn in that short amount of time without studying hard. 

"So what do you want to do?" he asked.  
Casey shrugged. "I don't know." She thought for a few minutes, then suddenly smiled as she stood up. "I know! Let's go take a walk, get some icecream or better yet, tacos!"   
He couldn't say no to that face. "Alright," he said as he stood up, or more like forced up since Casey was pulling on his arm. He grabbed his shoes and stuck them on, then called out to the kitchen.   
"Mia! Casey and I are going out for a bit. We'll be back later."  
"Ok, see you two later. Have fun!"  
"Sure will!" Casey replied enthusiastically as she slipped her shoes on, then proceeded to drag Rowen out the door.  


Sage headed upstairs to his room and right to his dresser and pulled out a clean polo shirt and undergarments, then went to his closet and got out his khaki pants. He wanted to shower and think things through, having plans to go into the woods where he meditated daily. The events that took place earlier were still on his mind and he was wondering just how he would handle it all, and what he would do about them. Why was the boy so sad? He had been expecting a smart remark from the boy, but instead he had given Sage something else to think about. And the more he thought about it, the more Sage knew that he was wrong reacting the way he did. He let out a long pained sigh as he left the bedroom and walked down the hall and into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.   


Ryo returned home and slipped off his soccer shoes, then took off his jersey. He needed a shower and was planning on getting on as he raced upstairs.  
"Ryo, is that you?" Mia called to the kitchen.  
"Yep!" he called back, then made his way to the bathroom door. He came to a stop before the door when he heard the shower running. Drats, he thought to himself as he turned and made his way back to the stairs. "Hey, Mia! Who's in the shower?"  
She came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel as she looked up at him. "I don't know. I didn't even know anyone was in the shower."  
"Well, where is everybody?" Ryo asked.  
"Rowen and Casey went out for a little while, Kento and Cye went surfing for a bit, and Sage, well, he was in the living room," Mia answered.  
Ryo figured it out then. "Looks like I'll have to wait for a few hours then, since Sage is in the bathroom."  
Mia nodded her head and was about to turn and go back into the kitchen again, when she thought of something and looked back at him. "You know you could always clean your room up, Ryo. It's starting to smell." She walked back into the kitchen, leaving Ryo to sweatdrop.  
"My room doesn't smell," he muttered as he made his way to his room. He went in, and saw his tiger sleeping on his bed. "Lazy tiger," he mumbled. White Blaze opened up one eye and stared at him dully before snorting and going back to sleep. Ryo rolled his eyes and sniffed the air, smelling almost.. wait.. What was that smell? He got down on his knees and peered under his bed, then grimaced. Dirty socks, old pair of boxers, half chewed steak bone. Gross. He got to his feet and went downstairs and retrieved a garbage bag and a pair of kitchen gloves, then returned to his room, and begin to clean out from under his bed, throwing away the half eaten bone, gathering up chewed pieces of toys as he found them, putting his dirty smelly clothes into the dirty clothes basket in the corner of his room. He checked to see if there anything else under there. To his relief there wasn't anything else. He left his bedroom again and brought up a broom, dustpan, and bucket of mop water, and the mop itself, and begin to sweep and mop his floor. The whole time White Blaze did not move from his spot.

Thunder ate dinner in silence, listening to the excited chatter of Samora. She was telling her mother how cheerleading practice was going and how the school wanted to have new cheerleading outfit designs. Instead of the green and white outfits, the new outfits were to be dark blue and white with gold trim.  
"And how soon are they going to be doing these new outfits?" Mr. Tsukiyama asked before eating his stir-fried noodles.  
"I'm not sure," Samora answered, then took a bite of her fried cabbage. She looked toward Thunder and flashed him a smile which caused him to blush. "But I can find out from Mrs. Antonin," she continued.  
"Let me know what she says then," Mr. Tsukiyama said before eating again.  
Dinner continued on and was finished, and Thunder helped the two girls clean up and put everything away. Tae smiled watching him wipe off the table. Such a nice helpful young boy. She got herself some green mint tea and headed into the living room to relax and enjoy a movie.  
After he had finished helping the girls, he slipped on his shoes and his jacket and left the house to take a walk, preferably through the woods where it was more peaceful than the city. The walk itself to the woods did not take long, maybe a half hour to be exact. He walked through the woods, enjoying the scenery and the peace. A few leaves blew past him, and some branches crunched under his feet. The chirping of birds could be heard above him, and he watched as two Pacific Swallows fly past him.   
He sucked in his breath and let out slowly as he let the peace get to him. The woods always seem to calm him. He walked a bit further and then leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. He missed his other friends and wondered what they could be doing right now. Flash was probably at the volcano or practicing her skills, or baby sitting, Chilie was probably at the mall flirting with the guys again, Scorpio, his best friend, was probably helping his grandparents out as he stayed with Thunder and his grandparents, or surfing, Snow was probably inventing some new machine of his, Ice was probably watching a baseball game or goofing off in some way, T-boz was probably cooking, practicing archery, or hanging out with Chilie, or just cleaning, and helping out, and Shades was probably beating up some girl who made her made, or doing math homework, or reading a mystery thriller novel.   
He let out a sigh as he thought of each one. They were all different, and yet they were all friends, connected together by their spirits. Thunder did not know how he would ever get through life without them.   
Suddenly he heard a sound, and quickly snapped his eyes open. They widened in surprise. For he was surrounded by fifty strange looking soldiers in armor. 


	6. Chapter 6

****

A New Hope

Chapt. 6

Sage stepped out of the shower, but felt no better than he did. He let out a sigh and begin to dry himself off and get dressed in clean clothes, thinking he should go into the woods and meditate some just to calm his nerves. He felt terrible for hating that strange boy, and wondered how he could be so full of pain as if someone had wounded his soul. 

He let out a shudder and a groan and wondered just what was wrong with him, why he had acted that way. He needed to get out of the house and away from everyone else. So he went downstairs, slipped on his shoes and out the door he went, closing it behind him. He got into his car and started it up, and drove off, heading for his favorite woods area where he could meditate in peace and hopefully relieve himself on the inner turmoil he was facing. 

Thunder stood in a defense position, eyeing the soldiers surrounding him. He knew they were up to no good, and could sense the evil from them. In a way they reminded him of soldierknights, but only different somehow. Why they were surrounding him was a mystery, but he was sure he'd find out soon. 

He was right. The soldiers attacked him as one. He ducked down and side-kicked one in the gut, sending it against a tree trunk where it was destroyed by the force. He flipped another over his hi, then gave an uppercut to another. One soldier grabbed him, pinning his arms at his sides. He struggled and kicked, then suddenly moved backward, slamming the soldier against another tree as hard as he could. The soldier released him and vanished from sight.

Two more soldiers attacked him at the same exact time, wielding weapons. He kept careful eye on them, judged the right time, then leapt out of their way, causing them to strike one another. More soldiers seemed to attack him and he continued to fight, using his experience as a Warrior and his martial arts skill. He didn't feel the need to call his armor just yet. He would only do that if things got too out of hand 

Little by little the soldiers begin to diminish. A few more kicks here, a few dodges there. Finally after what seemed an eternity the soldiers were all gone. And yet, Thunder sensed he wasn't alone. His eyes narrowed and he called with a loud voice. "COME OUT!"

Three figures in dark sinister looking armor appeared behind him and he quickly turned around to face them. The first was dressed in a green and red armor and had fours swords on his hips. The second had a brown armor with a red cape flowing behind him, there was a scar on of his eyes, and a nodatchi was laid across the back of his shoulders. The third had a maroon, almost pink like armor with a Nunjunkas on his back and a patch over one eye. All three stood together, radiating pure evil, with tainted auras that Thunder could clearly see.

"Well, boy, I see you have done well against our soldiers! You have passed our first test against you!" the one in brown armor said to him with a sinister grin on his face.

Thunder's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Test? This was a test? Do I even want to know why I was tested?"

The one in the green and red armor laughed. In a way this man reminded Thunder of his archenemy Razor, the Guardian of Despair. "Our master is very interested in you, boy. And your skills are superb compared to the Ronin runts who need subarmor to even fight these soldiers! You on the other hand only wore regular clothing and handled the soldiers quite well."

Thunder was getting confused, but he didn't let on he was. "Whatever your master desires, tell him forget it. I don't care if he's interested in me. I'm not interested in him, so I suggest you leave me be."

"We have our orders, boy!" the one in the pink/maroon armor informed him with a dangerous glint in his eye. "Our master is expecting us to go up against you to see how well you fair."

"Wha…?" was all Thunder could get out before the three armored men suddenly attacked him as one force. 

He was slammed against the tree trunk. His eyes widened in pain, and then he nearly screamed when he felt an iron fist slam into his stomach which caused him to double over and his eyes to water. He lifted up his feet and kicked them against the one called Cale, sending him flying backward into some thorny bushes.

Sekhmet slashed at Thunder with his swords. The young boy back flipped out of the way, but one shoulder slashed his shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.

Sekhmet laughed his head off, watching the boy hold his wounded shoulder and try and fight at the same time. "Do you feel any different?" the man mocked to him. "Feeling that burning pain? It is my venom flowing through your veins!" His laughter echoed through the air.

Now that Thunder thought about it, he could feel a burning pain, a pain which made him tremble and sweat as if he were extremely ill. It was hard to fight back while in this position. He needed his armor, he realized. After struggling for several moments to raise an arm, he was about to call forth his armor, when suddenly he heard, "Web of Deception!"

He looked up just in time to see some webbing flying toward him. He moved to dodge, but he was grabbed and held fast, unable to move, and when he did try to move a burning pain went through him. He screamed out in pain.

Sage stopped suddenly at the entrance of the forest. His eyes narrowed as the scream he had heard dissipated into the air around him. He wasn't sure who had screamed, but he did know they were in some kind of trouble, and he had to help who ever it was. He quickly donned on his subarmor and took off into his forest, running as fast as his feet could carry him. 

The Warlords surrounded Thunder with mocking grins on their faces. They had brought the boy down to his knees, the very boy Talpa was interested in. Why was he interested though? It wasn't like the boy had any powers right? 

Suddenly their grins fell off their faces as they stared at the boy. He was glowing a red color, a strange symbol, a picture of a lightning bolt appeared flashing brightly in his forehead. To their surprise, the wound on his shoulder begin to heal on its own.

They watched, stunned, as this happened. Finally the glowing stopped, the symbol faded away, and the boy laid there, not moving though his eyes were opened. The wound on his shoulder as well as other wounds were completely gone as if they had never happened to begin with.

"Amazing," Cale spat. "Another healer."

"Seems like this one can heal himself apparently," Dais said crossing his arms over his torso.

"What now?" Sekhmet asked.

"I guess we take him back to Master Talpa," Dais answered.

"Not while I can help it!" a voice cried.

All three Warlords turned their heads, and saw Sage standing on a tree branch not far from them. His eyes were glowing dangerously, his fists were clenched, his jaw set tightly in a spectacle of firm anger.

"Well, if it isn't Sage of the Halo!" Cale mocked. "Do you really think you can take on all three of us?"

"I can and I will!" Sage retorted. "You're not going anywhere with him!"

"And what makes you so sure?" Sekhmet laughed.

"This!" Sage cried. "Armor of Halo! Dao Chi!"


	7. Chapter 7

****

A New Hope

Chapter 7.

Thunder was staring at Sage in shock. He felt weakened from being poisoned and having to heal himself. It was stunning to see someone else in armor. And the transformation was stunning. He struggled to get up, but he couldn't.

Cale sneered at Sage. "You are just one Ronin, boy! You can't possibly expect to beat all three of us!"

Sage glared at them with narrowed eyes as he kept a firm grip on his sword. "I'm willing to try."

"And you shall fail!" Dais spat.

"We'll see about that!" Sage retorted.

Cale attacked him first and Sage defended himself. The two swords clanged against each other in a explosion of darkness and light. They struck each other again and again, neither one outdoing the other.

Thunder watched, impressed. He was beginning to get his strength back which was good especially since those other two men in armor, Dais and Sekhmet, he believed their names were, were coming toward him.

"Why don't you give up, Halo?" Cale sneered at him. He now had Sage pressed up against a tree as the blond warrior of Halo struggled beneath him to push him back. 

"Never!" Sage spat, then with a force of a pick up truck he kicked the Warlord of Corruption back. He leapt high into the air and attacked more, driving Cale back.

Cale growled and suddenly flipped over Sage, then quickly turned and kicked Sage. The Ronin of Halo fell to the ground, but before Cale could strike him, he suddenly felt Sage's foot in his torso. Another strong kick sent the Warlord of Darkness flying against a tree.

Sage flipped over and stood up, then turned and stared at the other two remaining Warlords. Without warning they suddenly attacked. Sage fought to the best of his ability. He dodged, feinted, swiped, parried a blow, felt an attack in the side, dodged again, and struck back. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up though. He had been hit by Sekhmet's surekill, and he could already feel the venom running through his veins. There was only one thing he could do.

Managing to escape the cluster they were beginning to form around him, he somersaulted into the air, and landed some distance away. He raised his sword high above his head and closed his eyes, concentrating on the powers of Halo.

When he felt ready, his eyes opened, and they were an ice blue color, glowing, penetrating. With a loud cry he called forth his attack. "Thunderbolt Cut!"

The attack went out and struck Dais. The Warlord cried out as he was thrown back several feet. He hit the side of the boulder and slumped to the ground.

Sekhmet stared at Halo, fury running through his eyes. He would take this Ronin rodent down and he would suffer the wrath of Talpa. He charged at him, weapons raised.

Dais soon revived himself and attacked instantly, striking Halo wherever his attacks landed at. 

Sekhmet attacked viciously himself, cutting off pieces of Sage's armor. He grinned as he heard the Ronin cry out in pain. Soon it would be all over for the Warrior of Wisdom. 

Sage could feel himself weakening. He wasn't sure how much longer he could handle this. He thought about calling out to the others, but he wasn't sure if they would make it in time. He had to keep fighting, to save himself, and that boy. 

His eyes flashed again, and he again gained the power to at least push the two Warlords back. Then he had a more difficult task. Dais had landed behind him, and so he had to keep spinning back and forth to block off attacks, and to fight back. He couldn't give them the chance to break him down. 

He again summoned all of his power and did another surekill, this time hitting Sekhmet. The Warlord of Venom hollered out in agony as he went flying back through tall grass and weeds, then vanished beyond what the eye could see. That left only Dais.

Sage was injured and tired, but he wasn't about to give up. He stared at Dais, his sword held between his eyes, staring at Dais almost coldly. "Your friends are all gone, Dais. Time to leave, either peacefully, or forcefully."

Dais spun his weapon around his head, laughing. "Think you could beat me? I am Dais, Warlord of Illusion."

"You have a short memory," Sage spat. "I'm the Warrior of Wisdom, remember?"

Dais stopped. Of course. How could he be so dense? The Ronin of Halo could see right through illusions.. Blast it all! He would have to use the old fashioned way to bring the boy down.

"Web of Deception!" he cried.

The attack went out and before Sage could repel it, he felt it wrapping around him. He struggled, then screamed out in agony as it tightened and bit more into him. 

Thunder's eyes widen. He had to help him! He could see Sage was struggling, and feeling intense pain just by the way his face looked. The man called Dais was laughing his head off, and that angered him. This wasn't right! He struggled to his feet and suddenly attacked Dais, knocking him sideways.

"You fool!" Dais shouted, then kicked Thunder with two legs. 

Thunder cried out as he flew backward. He managed to twist in mid-air and land on his feet again. His gut was on fire, but he had to ignore the pain. He at least had Dais attention for now.

"You will suffer, boy!" Dais threatened as he begin to spin his weapon around again. 

Thunder took a step backward. He had to keep Dais' attention on himself as he hoped his rescuer could get himself free. 

Dais suddenly attacked and without mercy. Thunder took the blows the best he could, dodging some, and fighting back, scoring a few points here and there. 

Sage watched through the webbing. He could see that Thunder wasn't going to last much longer the way he was starting to look. It was time to act now. He suddenly gathered the strength once again and used his nodatchi to slice his way through the webbing. Once free he stood up, and summoned his power, then unleashed it on Dais.

"Thunderbolt Cut!"

The attack went out and suddenly hit Dais from behind. The Warlord of Illusion screamed out in pain as he was blown past Thunder and beyond the field of vision. 

Sage collapsed to his knees, hurt and even more exhausted. He wasn't sure he could lift a finger. All he wanted was to lie down and sleep.

Thunder approached him slowly. He stared down at the boy who had once threatened him, the boy who had now risked his life to save his. Gingerly, he reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. His eyes closed, and he began to concentrate. His body began to glow red, and a symbol, a lightning bolt appeared flashing his forehead. 

Sage felt different suddenly. He no longer felt pain. Instead he felt good, as if his wounds were being bathed gently and the bathing was washing the wounds away. He opened his eyes to see himself glowing red. Red?! How was that possible?! His eyes shifted and he looked toward his right. It was the new boy.. The one he had fought with, the one he had been jealous. He…he was healing him… Was this power he and the other four Ronins had felt? Or was there more to him?

A few minutes passed and Thunder stepped away. Sage was completely healed and he felt fine, completely energized. He had so many questions he wasn't sure where to begin. But that would have to wait. It was best to get this boy back to his friends. Who knew when Talpa would send reinforcements.

"Thank you," Sage said. "Now please come with me. If I know those goons they'll be back. I have to get you to my friends. They can help you." He turned and started walking.

Thunder followed him, easily keeping pace. "Who were they? Where did they come from?" he asked.

"They're called Dark Warlords," Sage explained as they kept on walking. "They work for an evil master known as Talpa who rules the Netherrealm."

"Talpa?"

"Yes. He's been attacking our worlds for eons now. He wants to merge the two worlds together to make one giant world that he can rule. He uses the negative energy of the people to gain power, and he'll also use powers like yours and mine to get even more power just to get what he wants."

"Sounds terrible."

"You have no idea."

Thunder did not say anything, but he did know how it was. He had helped fight in one of the greatest wars of good versus evil mankind had ever seen. Now it looked like there was even more to be dealt with, and this time he did not have his own friends to back him up.


	8. Chapter 8

**A New Hope**

Chapter 8.

Casey paused during her walk with Rowen to sniff some roses that were surrounding a manicured yard of a large white house. Rowen watched her for a few moments, admiring the way she looked while smelled the flowers. 

"Ready to go?" he asked a few minutes later.

"Yeah, sure," she said, and forced herself away from the roses. They walked together down the street, passing people by here and there, then waited to cross the street at the corner, then continued walking down that way. 

Casey's stomach growled lightly. Already she could smell the tacos they were about to get. She grabbed Rowen's hand and begin to walk faster in the direction of the taco restaurant.

"Whoa, slow down!" Rowen said as he was dragged behind her, his shoes scraping the sidewalk. "We've got plenty of time to get there."

"I know!" Casey said elatedly. "But I want to get there now! I can't wait! Mmmmmm, tacos!"

Rowen shook his head as he was dragged along behind her. Once Casey was determined to get something she didn't let anything stop her. They finally made it to the restaurant and went inside. After getting their order they sat down at a small booth for two near the back window in the nonsmoking section to enjoy their meal. At first they talked about school, though Casey was rather bored by school unless it had something to do with creative writing or even field trips, they talked about their friends, and their homes, and what they wanted to do after school. Finally Casey changed the subject.

"Rowen, what do you of the new kid?"

Rowen took a bit of time to think about. He always liked to think about what he would say before speaking that way he wouldn't say something he would regret. After a few moments of silence, he spoke. "He seems okay, but it's hard to say. He's mostly quiet though, and it's like he's hiding something from everyone. What I'm not sure, and it's probably not our business though."

Casey nodded as she sipped her drink. "He seems way to quiet to me. And afraid of girls as well. Why, I don't know." She paused, then added, "Say isn't there a word for that?"

Rowen shrugged. "There might be, but I can't think of any right at the moment."

Casey only nodded and went back to her tacos. 

Ryo finally finished cleaning his room and dumped the dirty water down the toilet. He flushed it, then had to get the toilet scrubber and comet and then scrub the commode clean, then wipe around it with the cleaning rag. This only took a few minutes. He put everything back, then headed downstairs to grab a bite to eat. 

Kento was already in the kitchen helping himself to Oreo cookies. A tall glass of milk sat on the table. The Warrior of Justice always liked to dip his Oreos in milk before eating them. He saw Ryo and grinned at him. "Hey, Ryo, bud. Where've you been?"

"Upstairs cleaning my room," Ryo said as he rummaged through the refrigerator. He got out leftover rice and some meatballs and set them on the counter. After putting his meal together and heating it up he joined Kento at the table. 

"Oh," Kento said as he dipped maybe his 6th cookie in his milk.

"What about you?" Ryo asked.

"Well, did some errands for my mom. She called earlier. Then I came home and played some video games, took the trash out for Mia, now I'm sitting here."

"So where's everyone at?" Ryo asked.

"Casey and Rowen are still out, Sage ran off somewhere, probably to meditate, Mia's in the living room talking on the phone, and Cye went swimming in the lake."

"Busy day for us, eh?" 

"Yep," Kento said, eating his cookie.

Ryo started to eat and just sat there in silence. For once it felt good without having to worry, but yet he knew that could change at any time. No telling what Talpa would plan next.

Talpa was tapping his fingers, awaiting the arrival of his Warlords. Anubis had not gone with the other three this time. Instead he had stayed behind, awaiting his orders from Talpa. So far Talpa had not spoken to him and occasionally he could hear Talpa's impatient sighs.

Finally the three Warlords appeared before them. Something was wrong though. All three looked wounded and could barely stand up. Cale was groaning in pain, Dais hissing, and Sekhmet moaning. Talpa's eyes flashed angrily as he took the three in his gaze.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Halo…" Cale managed to speak.

"Came," Sekhmet added with difficulty.

"Helped the boy," Dais finished, gasping with pain.

Talpa glared at them. "So, Halo wants to become a victim of my targeting as well does he? Go and rest and let yourselves heal. Then when you are well, you will go after that mysterious boy, and you will also bring Halo back with you. Make sure they are both alive. We can turn the boy to our side, and Halo we can use to lure the other Ronins to us. Anubis, you will accompany them on their next mission."

"Yes, Master," Anubis said as he bowed low.

The other three vanished from Talpa's presence.

"Come on," Sage said as he led Thunder through an opening in a patch of trees. Thunder followed him then surveyed the area. There was a valley it seemed with a dock just before them, and a private lake. One on side there were a set of cabins; on their side just up the hill sat a large house. They went in that direction.

Sage opened the door, and the boy followed him in, looking about curiously, but without looking as if he were curious. "Guys!" Sage called.

Ryo and Kento came from the kitchen, and Cye came downstairs. The Torrent bearer had only been home for about five minutes, just long enough to change into dried clothes. All three stared at Thunder.

"Hey, you're that new kid at our school," Kento said to him.

"Yes, I am," Thunder replied.

"You from Germany?" Ryo asked, noting the accent right away.

"I was born and raised there, spent two and a half years in America before transferring here as an exchange student."

"Where at in America?" Cye asked.

"San Francisco, California," Thunder replied.

"Guys," Sage said, getting down to serious business. "Talpa is after him. Why I'm not sure. I helped him against Dais, Cale, and Sekhmet, and he in turn helped me when I needed it."

The three were aghast. Before they had believed Sage to be highly jealous of the new student since the majority of the girl population had decided to set their eyes on him instead of Sage. 

"If Talpa is after you," Ryo said to Thunder, "it can only be that you have a type of power he's interested in."

Thunder became quiet then. He already knew what his powers were, and so did his friends, and his mortal enemies. He was usually reluctant to tell others of his powers cause new evil could always find out about them. He did not want that. And yet he sensed he could trust these four.

A door opened from upstairs and soft walking was heard. The Ronins looked up to see to see Mia coming. 

"Hey, Mia," Ryo waved.

"Hey guys," she greeted with a smile. She had gone upstairs to get something after her program was over and now that she had it, she could get started with what she had been planning to do all morning long. She noticed Thunder as she descended down the flight of stairs. "Who's this?" she asked.

Thunder immediately became quiet, his fear of girls returning to him. Many people did not understand his fear of his girls, and some thought he was bi. That was far from the truth. He had been born on a traveling boat and had only seen one woman, his mother. When he was eight he was sent to an all boy's military school, and did not see another woman until he met his grandparents for the first time when he was 14 ½ years old. And his first sighting of a girl soon followed, but he did not talk to any of them until he had met Flash Michaels, a friend of his, and a fellow Warrior, in fact the leader of the team he was in within that country. His fear of girls could be understandable though if people understood the difficulties he had with them. 

"This is the new student from our school, Mia," Cye said. "His name is Thunder."

"Is there a last name with that?" Mia inquired politely.

Thunder returned her gaze, and spoke softly and only once. "Copiel."

Mia smiled and bowed in greeting. "Koji Mia. I am the owner of this house."

Thunder nodded slightly, and Mia wondered if there was something wrong with him. She did not ask because she believed it not to be her business. But as she studied him more she begin to think she saw nervousness within that visible eye.

"Mia, Talpa is after him," Sage said. "We need to keep that scum bag from getting him."

Mia nodded. "That can be done. I know you Ronins are strong. And you'll defeat Talpa again and again until he's had enough. But tell me why is he after this boy?"

"He has a power, Mia," Ryo said. "We were just waiting for him to tell us what it is."

Everyone looked at Thunder expectedly. But before he could speak, the door opened and Rowen and Casey trotted in. Both abruptly came to a stop and Casey stared at Thunder for several seconds. 

"Hey! Shy boy's here!" she said with a grin. 

Thunder blinked once as Rowen stepped forward.

"Sorry about her," Rowen said. "She's always like this. I'm Hashiba Rowen."

"Thunder Copiel," Thunder greeted.

"And I'm McCarthy Casey!" Casey said excitedly. She was still hypered from eating tacos and now to see a new friend here in this house was thrilling. Too bad a friendly girl couldn't have come with the boy. Casey would have loved to hang out with a girl her age. Mia was nice to hang around with, but it wasn't really Casey's style. Yet, she wasn't complaining. 

And then something caught her and Rowen's attention. Sage once again repeated what he had said to the others, and both scowled deeply.

"It's just like Talpa too," Rowen said as his eyes flashed. 

"Thunder was just getting ready to tell us about his powers," Kento said.

Powers? Casey thought. This boy has powers?

Thunder could now feel all eyes on him. He hesitated for several minutes before he finally spoke. 


	9. Chapter 9

****

A New Hope

Chapter 9.

"I'm not what you think I am," Thunder said quietly, yet loud enough for them to hear him. 

Everyone stared at him. Of course this didn't surprise them. They themselves weren't what everyone thought about either. But still, they had to listen to what he was going to say.

"I have healing powers," he stated. "I can heal whatever wound there is, no matter how it was caused, and I can heal myself."

"So what's the big deal about that?" Kento remarked. "Sage can heal too."

"Yeah, but not myself," Sage said with a shake of his head.

Thunder continued on. "I also can't be killed by violence."

At this everyone dropped their mouths or stared in shock. It wasn't possible was it? How could he, a human being, be incapable of being killed? 

"Wait, how you can not be killed?" Kento demanded, as he didn't believe what the boy was saying.

"Yeah, it's impossible, unless you're immortal," Rowen stated.

"I'm not immortal. But it's the truth. I can't be killed.. We're not sure why. I was born this way," Thunder said softly, somehow knowing they didn't believe him.

Ryo rose an eyebrow at him as he folded his arms. "What else can you do?" he asked.

"Besides what I mentioned? Nothing really? I do have a mystical armor, but mine is different than yours," Thunder added. 

"Just how did you get these powers?" Cye asked him. 

"I was born with them. But I have to pay a price."

"What's that?" Kento stated rather rudely. He didn't mean to be rude, but he didn't trust this guy one bit.

Thunder sighed, closing his eyes once, then reopened them. He really didn't mind that he wasn't believed, he just didn't like all these questions. He felt like he was being interrogated by an enemy, but he knew that wasn't so. "I go through deep pain, more than a human being should. I suffer ten times worse than you would if you were to get a paper cut or even stabbed."

Again they stared at him with disbelief. How could that even be possible? No one could be like that, could they? The more they thought about it, the more they wonder if he was lying. It seemed like only Sage and Cye believed him though, for they held no suspicious look in their countenances. 

"How can we be sure you're telling us the truth?" Rowen asked as he rubbed his chin. "For all we know you could be lying to us."

"I know you don't believe me," Thunder said without emotion. "You asked about me, I told you."

"Can you proof it though?" Ryo asked as he crossed his arms, staring deep into Thunder's eyes.

Thunder stared back at him, undaunted, and for one moment he was reminded of his friend and his leader Flash.

"You guys, knock it off," Sage said. "I for one believe him."

Casey at this point had been mostly silent. She believed him, though she didn't show it, nor she did she show she didn't believe him. She had seen a lot of things, and basically to her anything was possible.

"Sage, get real," Kento said. "How can anyone not be killed and still be mortal? And how can anyone suffer pain more than anyone else with the same wound?"

"Look, I don't know," Sage said. "All I know is, the Dynasty seems to be after him. Why would they want him if he didn't have some type of power?"

Everyone fell silent now. Then Casey spoke up. "What about you guys? No one would believe you had mystical armors and powers if you just told them. How would you feel? Maybe he does have these powers."

"Casey's right," Mia said. "Maybe there'll be something in the computer about this."

Thunder blinked once, then stared at the floor as if it were interesting.

"How is the computer gonna prove what he told us?" Ryo demanded.

"It proved everything else," Cye said thoughtfully.

"That was for our armors and villains we've fought, Cye," Kento reminded him.

"Well, maybe the computer will have something about him," Mia suggested, referring to Thunder.

Thunder looked up now, but he didn't speak. He had no idea if this computer was capable of doing such a task or not. He decided to wait and see if it would, then there would be less chance of him having to prove himself. Something he wasn't sure he wanted to do right now. 

"Well, what do we do in the meantime?" Rowen asked. "If Talpa is after him, we can't let him out of our sight."

"We know that, Rowen," Ryo said with a deep sigh. "He's gonna have to stay here until we figure out what's going on."

"Um, I'm not sure I can stay here," Thunder said. "I don't want my hosts to worry about me."

"We can't let you leave," Ryo said with a shake of his head. "It's too dangerous. Look, give us their number and we'll call them to tell them you're safe with us."

"I don't even think they know you," Thunder said. "What if they think you're an abductor or something?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Thunder sighed, realizing he had little choice. He wished he could be more like Flash or something. But he wasn't. And so he would have to wait to see what was going to happen. Hopefully it would be over soon whatever was to happen. All he wanted right now was to be left alone. Why was that so hard to obtain? 

Mia headed upstairs to work on the computer and Rowen went with her, and Casey followed after him, after giving one last look at Thunder. Kento headed for the PS2 game system, and Cye headed into the kitchen to cook something, while Ryo headed upstairs for something. Sage sat down beside Thunder.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I know they don't believe you."

"Doesn't matter really," Thunder said quietly. "If I were them, hearing this for the first time, I wouldn't believe it either. It's not something I'm proud of. In fact I hate it at times."

"Can't you do something about it?" Sage asked, turning his head sideways to look at him. 

Thunder shook his head. "No, it's impossible. And no one else can either. I was born this way."

Sage gaped at him. "So it's not like a curse or an extra gift from someone?"

Thunder shook his head again. "It's neither. Sometimes it scares me cause every time I get struck, or if I get stabbed I feel like I'm being torn apart."

Sage frowned, now feeling more pity for him. It was too bad they couldn't change it for him. No one should have to suffer that much, not an even a worst enemy. If only there was something they could do for him. But what? Little did Sage know that not only was Thunder in danger, but he was also in danger himself. 


	10. Chapter 10

**A New Hope**

Chapter 10.

Anubis stood alone in his room. The candles were burning softly against the stone walls, casting his shadow on the far end wall that faced north. He was deep in thought, thinking of his mission that was to come. He knew what his master wanted, and he knew he was in charge of carrying that mission out. They were to capture both Halo and the mysterious boy together. Then they were to set up a trap for the other Ronin Warriors using Halo. But how to accomplish this feat? The Ronin Warriors were no idiots and tricking them might prove fatal if there was a mistake made. And there was no room for gaffe. 

He walked over to his dresser and laid his hands upon it. His reflection showed dimly in the mirror, but he paid no attention to it. He had more important things to worry about than his appearance. 

He had to think of a way to capture the two targets. He knew the others would come up with ideas as well, but it was his decision to see which ones were better, so he always came up with his own ideas in case none appealed too greatly. And sometimes his ideas weren't great either and one of the other's ideas would be. 

With a silent sigh to himself he teleported out of his room.

Ryo returned downstairs and looked at Thunder as he spoke. "Mia suggests it's best you call your hosts and tell them you'll be staying here. She'll talk to them if they ask for her."

Thunder frowned, then reluctantly nodded. "Alright." 

Ryo handed him the phone and watched as the tall blond teenager dialed some buttons. The call didn't take long, perhaps ten minutes. But Thunder told his hosts he was all right, where he was, and when approximately he'd return. Finally he looked at Ryo. "She wants to talk to Mia."

Ryo nodded and got Mia to come down. She took the phone. "Hello? Yes, yes ma'am." There was a pause, and finally Mia spoke again. "Well, we thought it best for him to stay here because of a situation we were having. I needed some extra help around the house anyway, and he looked trust worthy enough to ask."

Thunder frowned. She was lying. Though he despised lies what else was she's suppose to say to his host? There wasn't much that was for sure. He rubbed his face as Sage and Ryo watched Mia while she spoke. Finally after a brief good-bye, she hung up, and looked at Thunder. "It's been arranged. You'll stay here for the night, though she insists you return home tomorrow after school."

Thunder nodded quietly, and Ryo frowned. "That doesn't give us much time against the Dynasty."

"Just what could their plans be?" Sage wondered. 

"Who knows really," Ryo said as he sat down. "But we'll find out." He looked around. "Where's White Blaze?"

Thunder blinked at him. White Blaze? Who was White Blaze? He soon got his answer. A black and white tiger strolled into the room. His eyes widen. "You have a tiger for a pet?"

Ryo ran his hand along the tiger's back who rumbled happily in response. "More like an overgrown kitty."

Thunder had a flash back. He remembered walking with his friend Flash and her wolf Blaze. A man and his wife had gasped in fear at Blaze, but Flash had calmly replied he was like a huge puppy. Course that didn't help though, because the people had quickly trotted off. He stared at the tiger though. 

White Blaze stared back at him with calm brown eyes. Interesting. Weren't white tigers suppose to have blue eyes? The animal seemed friendly enough. Gingerly he reached out a hand and let the tiger sniff him. There was no fear nor mistrust between the two. Thunder pet the tiger lightly at first, then scratched behind his ears, getting a happy grumble from him.

"Hey, he likes you!" Ryo said, smiling for the first time.   
"He's a beautiful animal," Thunder replied.

"Shh.. Don't say that. He's very prideful of himself," Ryo whispered. 

At this White Blaze snorted and stuck his nose in the air and walked off.

"See?" Ryo said to Thunder.

Thunder just smiled a little, clearly amused. 

"Come on, Rowen, please?" Casey begged as she followed Rowen around his room. Rowen shook his head as he searched for his lab report paper. It had been on his desk, but since he had left the window open, the wind had blown in, and of course the paper was now lost somewhere in his room. It had to be here somewhere, but where? 

"Casey, we've already been through this. I don't have the money to keep taking you to those horse trails."

"But they have new horses, and I really really really want to see them!" 

Rowen shook his head again. "They have new horses once a week. And what about your own horse?"

"Windy's fine. I see him everyday. I'd like to see some new ones. Besides, what if I want to find a playmate for Windy, huh? Huh?" Casey stood in front of Rowen and stared him hard in the eye. "Besides, if it was a new library getting in new books of your favorite subjects once a week, you'd be there."

"They're free too."

"And if they weren't, you'd still go," Casey challenged.

Rowen fell silent, then sighed deeply. "I can't win can I?"

"Nope!"

"Fine, we'll go, but we'll go tomorrow evening, how does that sound?" 

"Yippe!" Casey threw her arm up in a triumphant gesture. Rowen could only shake his head. There was never a chance at winning anything with Casey, he realized. 

Casey smiled brightly and hugged him. "Thanks, blue boy. See you later!" she chirped and skipped out of the room.

Rowen then turned and began to look for his paper. He finally found it under Sage's bed. 

Talpa called for his Warlords, and they appeared before him, bowing before him, their eyes on the floor. "Dais, Cale, Sekhmet, I trust you have recovered from your recent injuries?" Talpa inquired. 

"Yes, Master Talpa," all three replied simultaneously.

"Good. Then the four of you shall go to where the Ronins are. They are keeping the boy with them. Remember what I told you," Talpa said as his eyes flashed red for a moment. "I want both the boy and Halo."

"Yes, Master," Anubis said. "We will not fail you."

"Go then, and do not return without them!" 

The Warlords bowed again, then teleported out of the castle.

Cye took a hot pan of freshly baked chicken and herbs out of the oven and set it down on the counter. He turned the oven off and was just about to stir the fry-stir vegetables simmering in the pan on the stove when he heard Mia call his name. 

"Yes, Mia, what is it?" he asked as he looked toward her.

"Just checking to see how dinner was coming along. Kento's been complaining that he's starving."

"No surprise there," Cye said with a laugh. "It should be done in about ten to fifteen minutes."

"I'll tell Casey and the boys then," Mia said.

"Is Thunder staying here too?" Cye asked.

"Yes. He'll be sleeping in Ryo's room on the guest bed."

"What about Yulie?" 

"Yulie's parents decided to keep him home tonight," Mia said. "But he'll be over tomorrow night though."

Cye nodded and Mia walked out of the kitchen, leaving Cye to his culinary.

"You'll love Cye's food," Kento told Thunder as he grinned widely. "He's the best cook all around here."

"He's the only cook around here, besides Mia," Sage said.

Thunder looked back and forth between the two boys. "Do you either of you cook?" he asked.

"Once in a while," Kento said. "But that's only when no one else can."

"Most of the time it's Cye though. Ryo can't cook well, Rowen, well, he can cook but sometimes if he's been studying all night long, he has more trouble in the kitchen from lack of sleep. I can cook, but it's hard to cook something that everyone likes to their taste," Sage explained.

"What about you?" Kento asked Thunder.

"I don't cook much, only when my grandparents can't."

"Grandparents?" Kento blinked at him. 

"In America I lived with my grandparents. My parents died," he explained. "They were thought to be lost at sea somewhere but after searching for several months and finding nothing, it was announced they were most likely dead."

"Oh, bummer man." Kento said.

"Sorry to hear that," Sage said with sympathy. "Where did it happen if you don't mind my asking?"

"It happened in Bonn, Germany where I was born. I was born on a small traveling boat. When I turned eight years old my parents thought it best for me to be on land than on the sea with them. So they sent me to an all boy's military school. When I turned about nine years old, I found out my parents were lost at sea. I always thought they'd be found, that one day I'd wake up and they'd be there in the room with me. But after months later even I gave up some hope."

Sage and Kento nodded with a frown. There was so much they wanted to ask him, so much they had to learn. Whatever he could tell them might help them against Talpa. Kento was about to ask more, when suddenly Sage stiffened.

"Sage?" Kento blinked at his fellow Ronin, and got no response. "Sage?" 

"Shh!" Sage said. "Do you feel that?"

Kento fell silent and waited. Yes, he could feel it. That unmistakable feeling was the same every time. "The Dynasty!" he growled. 

And then suddenly all the lights went out. 


	11. Chapter 11

****

A New Hope

Chapter 11.

The five Ronins found themselves back to back now. Sage could feel his heart beat pounding a mile a minute against his chest. How he hated the dark! It drained his energy out, making it almost impossible for him to defeat his enemies. 

"So, the Warlords are here," Ryo hissed.

"That's right, boy!" Anubis said with a laugh. 

"You thought we were gone for good, didn't you?" Sekhmet said with a smirk.

"But as you can see, excuse me, hear, we are back," Cale said with a sneer.

"And you will see there is no escape from what we are about to do," Dais said.

"And what are you about to do?" Kento demanded.

"Stay close together, guys," Ryo said.

"Yeah, no telling what these losers are up to," Rowen said.

A weapon suddenly flew from somewhere in the dark and it struck Rowen right in the chest, knocking him back over the coffee table. He let out a cry of pain.

"Rowen!" Sage cried. He was cursing this. If only there was light, then he wouldn't be so weak!

"Hey you cowards!" Kento said in a challenging voice. "Why hide?! Afraid we'll beat you!"

Another weapon flew out and wrapped around Kento's neck. It suddenly yanked him forth, then he found himself flying across the room where he hit into the fireplace wall.

"Kento!" Ryo shouted. He was looking in every direction, trying to find where the Warlords were at. He couldn't sense them anywhere.. And if he used his surekill..he could make a mistake and hurt either Mia or Thunder. 

The Warlords laughed. "What's wrong, Ronins? Are you all that helpless? Like little bunnies with no place to hide?" Dais laughed at his own joke. 

"You bloody Warlords will pay for this!" Cye seethed in anger.

"Oh, will we?" came Sekhmet's voice.

Another weapon came from no where and struck Cye in the head. He went down without another sound.

"Oh no, Cye!" Ryo cried.

"Ryo, we have to do something!" Sage said.

"I know, but what?!

"There is nothing you can do!" Anubis laughed.

Thunder was extremely silent, trying to sense them out. He was having such a hard time focusing now. And why though? Normally, he would be able to sense people out. But tonight he couldn't.

Ryo growled low in his breath, trying to formulate a plan. He had three warriors down, and only he and Sage remained to protect Mia and Thunder. Thank goodness Yulie and Casey weren't here. Wait.. Casey, where was she?!

Casey was heading back to the house when she noticed all the lights were off. That was odd. It was only around 8:00 p.m. Mia never turned the lights out this early. Something must be up. She took off running toward the house. She tried the front door, but it was locked. She cursed a bit and tried the back door. It too was locked. "I know they couldn't have all gone somewhere! Mia's jeep is still in the driveway." 

She stepped back a little bit and craned her neck. She saw an open window on the low roof. She went onto the porch and climbed up onto the banister, then pulled herself upward and climbed onto the roof. She almost slipped when she was climbing up toward the window, but she held on and kept on climbing. She finally reached the window and slid herself through it. She dropped down onto the floor and found herself in Kento's and Cye's bedroom. She stood up. Okay, it was time to find out what was going on. 

She left the bedroom, walked down the hall, and stopped at the head of the stairs, listening. Something was wrong, very wrong. How she knew, she wasn't sure

"Just surrender, Wildfire," Anubis said. "It would be much better for you if you would."

"Anubis, what happened to you? You used to be more honorable than this!"

"Let's just say, it doesn't appeal to me anymore," Anubis chuckled. 

Ryo growled low in his breath.

"I think it's time we did this," Dais said.

"Did what?" Sage demanded.

All they could hear was a chuckle that made their skin crawl. It did not sound good. Casey scowled on the steps, wishing she could see. If she could she might be able to help them. In truth though she was frightened. And she wasn't sure what she could do. She suddenly heard a whirring sound in the air. 

It struck against something, or someone, because she heard a groan of pain. And then when she heard Sage's voice, she knew who.

"Ryo!" Sage cried. "You monsters! Come out and fight like real warriors!"

"And where's the fun in that?" Cale asked

Sage was seething, wishing he had more power than this. He raised his sword up weakly, wanting more than anything to just attack and not worry about hurting the others. 

Casey couldn't stand it any longer. She grabbed the closest thing next to her. A leather boot someone had left there in the hallway, and threw it with all her might. 

The boot hit one of the Warlords. Preferably Dais. The Warlord cursed. "Whoever did that will pay!"

Casey held her breath, now terrified. 

Dais raised his weapon up. "Web of Deception!"

Mia's eyes widened in terror. "Oh no!" she cried.

"Look out!" Sage cried.

Mia, Casey, Thunder, and Sage all tried to duck down in time, but each of them felt the webbing wrapping around them. They all screamed in pain.

Thunder was having difficulty in breathing. He had to get out of this, but how? 

Sage was trying not to panic. He knew it was best not to struggle in the webbing as it would bite into him more. But he wasn't sure what else to do. Everyone was practically knocked out. He was starting to feel tired himself. He could barely keep his eyes opened, though he tried to.

Cale headed toward Sage, knowing the Ronin wouldn't be able to see him. He raised his no-datchi up and struck Sage against the back of his head. The Ronin of Halo grunted and pitched forward, knocked completely unconscious.

Thunder frowned deeply. He had to do something, but like what? He could barely even move as it was. He felt like a failure. Before he knew it something struck him against the side of his head and he lost consciousness as well.

Dais picked up Thunder and Cale picked up Sage.

"Let's go," Anubis said. Then he paused. "Where's Sekhmet?"

"Right here," Sekhmet said. "I found two little women who would make a nice harem."

Casey growled low in her throat. She couldn't see the prick, but she could tell he was close by her. Mia, on the other hand, was frightened, but more worried about the boys. If only they could help them! But what could they do? 

"Sekhmet, leave them!" Anubis ordered. "We have to get back."

Sekhmet muttered and backed away from them. Together the four Warlords vanished away, taking Sage and Thunder with them. 


	12. Chapter 12

****

A New Hope

Chapter 12.

Sage's eyes fluttered several times and pain registered on his senses. He let out a groan and opened his eyes. He frowned at his surroundings. The Dynasty. He was locked in a small dungeon cell, chained tightly from the ceiling, his arms crossed to add more discomfort to him. He looked below him and saw he was hanging at least two feet from the floor. 

He closed his eyes. _'This is just great. How am I going to get out of this one?' _He let out a sigh and opened his eyes. He remembered the fight, how the Warlords had used Cale's darkness to blind them all, just to capture him. But what could they want with him? Wait, what if the others were captured too? 

He could see that he was the only one in this cell. So that meant the others were locked away somewhere else. He closed his eyes and concentrated, then tried to connect with the other Ronins.

Pain suddenly met him and he cried out and quickly let the connection go, breathing hard as sweat poured down his face. So they had him blocked. That was just great. He let out a careful, but heavy sigh. Now what was he going to do?

He heard someone coming, their heavy footsteps pounding against the hard floor and the sound of keys jingling. Were they coming to torture him? He held his breath as they got closer and closer.

The keys jingled at his cell door, there was a loud click, and the door was opened. 

Sage narrowed his eyes at the three soldiers. He could take them.. No problem at all.. 

Two soldiers approached him as the third stood directly before him, pointing a kurisama at his neck. Sage glared at the soldier as the other two worked his chains free. As soon as he was free, Sage suddenly grabbed one soldier and flipped it over him, then he ducked down as the third soldier before slashed toward him. The soldier's kurisama went through the second soldier, destroying it, then Sage suddenly kicked it hard against the wall, destroying that one as well.. 

He stood up and looked toward the opened door. It was time to get out of here and look for the others. He quickly ran out the door, ran down the hall, went around the corner, passed another hall, and then suddenly disappeared and reappeared right before Talpa.

"Trying to escape are you, Halo?" 

Sage glared at him. "What have you done with the others?!"

Talpa stared down at him as if he were a bug to be squashed. "I don't have your other friends, Halo. But I will soon. And you help me."

"Never!"

"Oh, you will, Halo. Because if you don't, you and the other prisoner will suffer," Talpa warned him as his eyes flashed red.

"What other prisoner?" Sage demanded.

Talpa waved his hand and an image appeared before Sage. In it, the Ronin of Halo could see Thunder in a dark cell, hanging from the ceiling, just as he himself had been earlier. 

"You know I have the power to bring harm to him, and to you, Halo," Talpa said as he stood up. The image faded away and Sage raised his eyebrows to glare at him more as the tyrant approached him. He tried to step backward, not wanting to be near him, but chains shot out from under the floor and attached to his wrists, holding him fast to the floor. 

"The other Ronins will rescue us!"

"Oh, I doubt it. You see, once you help me lure them here, it will be over for them. I will have all of them and soon I will have my armors back, including the Inferno armor, and I will bring the Netherrealm and the Earth together as I've always planned."

Sage glared at him more and tried to pull loose. It was no use. He was stuck here. If only he could get a warning to the other Ronins.

Thunder awoke and looked around. He frowned deeply. So he had been captured. But for what reason? 

He felt pain in his head and in his shoulders and arms. He was chained to the ceiling, arms crossed, and hanging two feet from the floor. Were the others here too? He didn't know. He did know he needed to get out of this. 

He struggled a bit, but found it to be no use at all.. He gave up and let himself hang, thinking as hard as he could. 

He suddenly felt a cold presence in the room with him and he shivered. He looked around again. He was surrounded by evil. A ghost seemed to materialize before him. His eyes widened at it. More ghosts appeared then. They looked like pale spirits with hats on their head, long flowing robes, and flutes in their hands. They floated all around him, playing their flutes. 

He watched them, confused, and even scared. What were these? And why were they here? 

They began to play faster as they floated around him. He then felt a stronger presence and soon another ghost appeared. This ghost looked bluish green and seemed to be the leader of these other ghosts.

The ghost stared at Thunder as if studying him. Finally after what seemed like several long minutes, it spoke. "So, you are the boy Master Talpa is interested in."

"Who are you?" Thunder asked, unable to take his eyes off him.

"I am called Badamon. These spirits here before you are the netherspirits. I am their high priest. We are under Talpa's command."

"What does this Talpa want with me?"

Badamon chuckled. "That's what we are going to find out. He believes you have some type of power and it's my job to find out what kind of power. Unless you want to save us all time and tell us yourself."

Thunder glared at him and quickly shut his mouth. He wasn't telling him anything.

"Well, if that's the way you want it," Badamon said. "That's the way you can have it." He suddenly flew right at Thunder and before the blond could react, he felt the spirits cold hands against his forehead, pressing against it.

He struggled, but Badamon kept his hands firmly against his forehead. A strange eerie glow filled the room and Thunder glowed red as his symbol, a lightning bolt flashed brightly across his forehead. 

Badamon forced Thunder to allow him to see what he could do. He found out everything the boy could do After several minutes he let go and the light faded away. 

Thunder was breathing heavily, somehow exhausted from that.

"Good, now to report this to Master Talpa," Badamon said to himself. He signaled his spirits to leave, and then disappeared himself, leaving Thunder alone once again. 

Ryo was furious. He and the other Ronins had been awake for fifteen minutes and when they were better, Mia and Casey had told them that Sage and Thunder had been taken by the Warlords. Already the bearer of Wildfire had destroyed a few relics in Mia's house, and the other Ronins had to hold him down as he struggled and cursed angrily. Finally after what seemed like an eternity he calmed down.

"We've got to get them back," Rowen said as he sat next to Ryo.

"We will," Ryo said. "And we're going to need a plan."

Casey sat there listening as the Ronins discussed getting into Talpa's place. She was worried about Sage and Thunder. Who knew what Talpa was planning with them. She hoped that Ryo, Rowen, Cye, and Kento could find a way in to the castle and rescue them both. 

"We already know how to get into the castle," Cye said quietly. "We just need to come up with something once we're in the castle."

"That's simple," Kento said. "Two of us go one way into the castle and draw all attention, while the other two take another way into the castle and look for Sage and Thunder."

Everyone stared at him, surprised. It was unusual for Kento to come up with a logic plan. There was silence in the room, and Kento looked around at them, blinking. "What?" he said finally.

"Kento, I never heard you come up with a plan before," Rowen said.

"Heh," Kento said, sweatdropping nervously with a grin.

"Think it'll work?" Cye asked.

"We have to try it," Ryo said as he stood up. "But still, we should have a backup plan."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. The next several minutes were used to devise and discuss a backup plan. 

As they discussed, Mia remained silent. What could Talpa want with the boy Thunder and for what reason? And why was only Sage taken? The Warlords could have taken all of them, but they hadn't. There had to be an explanation for it. 

Finally Ryo's voice caught her attention again. "So, we're all agreed right?"

"Right," Rowen echoed.

"Yes," Cye said, nodding his head.

"You got it," Kento said.

"Good. Now let's get moving."

"You guys are going now?" Casey asked as she stood up.

"Darn right we are," Kento said.

"You guys be careful then," Mia said as they followed them outside.

"Don't worry, Mia. We will be," Ryo promised her. 

They stood in the yard and suddenly transformed into their subarmors, then transformed into their armors. Together they concentrated.

__

'Ancient, please, help us to open the gate,' Ryo thought in his head.

There was a flash of light and the gate of the Dynasty appeared before them. Ryo nodded at Kento, and the strong warrior moved forward, pressing against the gates with all his might. Once they were opened, the four of them stood before the Netherrealm.

"Good luck, you guys!" Mia said to them.

"Yeah, kick some Dynasty ass and rescue Sage and Thunder!" Casey cheered on.

"You got it!" Rowen said, giving a thumb's up at her.

"Ronins, let's move in," Ryo ordered.

And they four of them charged into the Netherrealm as the gates closed behind them and disappeared. 


	13. Chapter 13

****

A New Hope

Chapter 13.

The four Ronins landed within the dynasty border. Immediately they were surrounded by more than a million soldiers. Having no choice but to fight, they jumped into action. Ryo spun through the air, using his swords as both a guard and a defense, while giving a high kick behind him to soldiers who were attacking from behind. He slashed, cut, gutted, and swiped through the soldiers, keeping himself concentrated on the battle.

Rowen was firing arrow after arrow, striking down soldiers wherever they were. He leapt high into the air and did a front snap kick to another and knocked it backward which in turn knocked down other soldiers right behind it. All five soldiers fell off the bridges and right into the water. 

Kento twirled his nanjinta around, knocking down soldiers with it, and using the end of it to propel others into the air. He beat them and bashed them, kicked and punched them. A soldier struck him against his head, but luckily it didn't do much damage. He grunted and grabbed the soldier from behind and threw it over his shoulder as hard as he could, sending the soldier flying several feet where it crashed into a building. 

Cye knocked down soldiers left and right with his yari, then opening it up he caught soldier after soldier, quickly closing it and snapping the soldier into two pieces. He kicked a soldier to the side of him, then punched one right in front of him, and knocked another away with his weapon.

Steadily they were progressing further and further. Ryo could just see Talpa's castle not far from them. If he had a good estimate he would say they were at least a half mile from it. He knew there would be obstacles in the way, and these soldiers weren't the only things they had to worry about. They had to worry about the four Warlords as well. And who knew when they were going to show up. 

The battle continued as more soldiers seem to appear from out of nowhere. Ryo knew the situation was going to get worse. He crossed his swords and his eyes flamed as he jumped high into the air. The energy crackled all around as he concentrated on building his power up. With a loud voice, he cried, "Flare Up Now!"

The attack went through several soldiers, perhaps about a hundred of them or so, wiping them out.

Kento concentrated on his surekill and when he felt he was ready, he shouted, "Iron Rock Crusher!" The attack split the ground open as huge boulders flew outward, striking soldiers while other soldiers were buried beneath the ground. In total about ninety soldiers had been destroyed.

Cye raised his yari up before his eyes, drawing his energy together as he studied his target. With a loud voice, he cried out "Super Wave Smasher!" A huge tidal wave seemed to pour out of the weapon and blasted against the soldiers who were coming up against him. The attack drove them back, and then it tore them apart, the pieces flying everywhere. 

Ryo looked toward the others. "Let's get going!" he commanded. 

"Right!" the others chorused and immediately followed after their leader.

Talpa grinned as he watched his screen from his sitting position on his throne. He had been watching the Ronins for quite sometime now and it was all a matter of time before they were in his hand.

Sage was still struggling to get free but the chains held tightly to him. He didn't like being in the same room with Talpa, and who knew what the tyrant would do.

Talpa waved the screen away and looked toward Sage. "Are you having fun, Halo?"

"Oh, sure, it's been a real blast," Sage said sarcastically. 

Talpa raised an eyebrow at him as he slowly stood up. "A blast you say. Perhaps we should make it an economy blast?"

Sage frowned deeply as he stared at his captor. He didn't like the way Talpa had said that, and he could feel sweat pouring down his face as he watched the Dynasty Master.

Talpa came toward him, chuckling evilly. He raised his hand and a long thick black whip appeared in it. At the end of the whip seemed to be a spiked edge. Sage's eyes widened in fear. "I could just blast energy bolts against you," Talpa said as he fingered the whip. "But I've found this way to be more entertaining."

Sage struggled harder than ever to escape. There was no escape though. The chains were just too strong for him. 

Talpa went behind Sage and stared at the struggling Ronin's back. A glint came in his eyes and he raised his whip, and suddenly snapped it against Sage's back. A horrifying scream filled the air, bouncing off the walls, and then another scream filled the air. 

Talpa struck the whip over and over against Sage's back, grinning as the room was filled with his screams. Blood was starting to soak through his shirt and sweat poured down his face. He was shaking.

"Poor Ronin of Halo," Talpa sneered. "You know I heard that although salt can heal a person, it also burns them terribly. Perhaps we should use something similar to salt, but not something that can heal you."

Sage stared at him with pain filled eyes. He was weakened from the beatings and wasn't sure how much longer he could take. Where were his friends? Surely they had devised a plan to rescue him and Thunder without getting caught themselves.

Talpa waved his other hand and a bottle appeared in it. He opened it up. "Ah, good old fashioned dirt. Not only will this hurt you more, but it will also give you serious infections."

Sage whimpered. "No, please.. no more.."

Talpa smirked at him and suddenly ripped Sage's shirt off from him. Sage's back was covered in wounds from the whip and blood ran down his back to soak the back of his jeans. The cruel master of the Dynasty dumped the dirt over Sage back, watching them soak into the wounds, and then laughed insanely as Sage screamed at the top of his lungs. 

If he would have been given the chance to, Sage would have knocked himself out to escape the pain he was enduring. How anyone could be this cruel was extremely sad. He was glad none of his friends had to be enduring this. This was worse than the gargoyles, and it probably wasn't the last of the torture Talpa had for him.

Thunder frowned deeply as he heard screaming. He recognized the voice to be Sage's, and that was all it took to get him struggling against the chains again. But unfortunately he couldn't break free. He knew he had to do something, but what? If only he could contact Sage's friends, but that was impossible. He only had contact with his own friends, but he didn't want to bring them into this. He winced as he continued to hear Sage's screams over and over. He struggled again, but the chains pulled him back as if fighting to keep him there. It didn't seem to be any use at all, he realized. Sage was suffering terribly and he couldn't even help him. 

"Aww, poor little Halo," a dark voice chuckled a few feet away from him. 

Thunder's head snapped forward toward it, trying to see who was there. When he had focused in on the person, he saw that it was the one called Sekhmet.

"You," Thunder said in a low growl.

Sekhmet chuckled. "I came to check on you. Seems like you're having fun trying to escape. Do you enjoy listening to Halo's cries of pain? I do. It's like music to my ears. Cale is actually dancing to the screams. Soon all of the Ronin runts will be screaming. We Warlords plan to ask Master Talpa for our own Ronin to torture before he takes their armors."

Thunder glared dangerously at the Warlord as he continued.

"I'll get Torrent, Dais will get Hardrock, Cale will get Halo, Anubis will have Strata, and Master Talpa can have Wildfire since the blasted boy defeated him twice already. I'm sure Master Talpa will want his revenge on him and soon too."

"I seriously doubt the Ronins will let you capture all of them. They're smarter than that," Thunder retorted.

"Says you," Sekhmet snapped back. "But I know them better than you do."

Thunder glared at him, then to his horror, the Warlord approached him.

"Did I mention I was allowed to see how you reacted to pain?" Sekhmet asked casually. This made Thunder gulp in fear. He knew whatever pain was inflicted on him would be ten times worse than it actually was. But what could he do? He couldn't escape, couldn't defend himself and no one was around to help him. 

Sekhmet raised his swords, preparing to unleash his Snake Fang Strike attack. Then suddenly there was a roar and a powerful force struck against Sekhmet, knocking him down and pinning him against the hard cold floor.

The Warlord struggled to get up, but White Blaze stayed there, growling at him. Then with one powerful swipe of his massive paw against Sekhmet's head, he knocked the helmet off the Warlord, then struck against his head again, knocking him out. 

White Blaze looked up at Thunder as he climbed off the unconscious Warlord. He walked toward

him and then pressed something against the chains. The chains immediately popped open and Thunder discovered he was free.

"Thanks, boy. How'd you do that?"

White Blaze growled softly and bent his head down, biting through his fur, before he pulled out a jewel of some kind. Thunder studied it. It appeared to be a small seashell tied to a string. Quite interesting.

The tiger then turned away and headed for the door, looking back at Thunder as he did so. The boy got the message. He leapt over Sekhmet's unconscious body, and followed after the tiger. 

Casey was pacing back and forth in the house between the couch and the coffee table, her hands folded behind her back. The boys had been gone for a solid five hours and she was extremely worried about them. 

Mia was sitting on the couch, her eyes staring down at the floor. She, too, was worried about them. They were like brothers to her, and even though she didn't know Thunder at all, she was worried about him too. She knew the Dynasty was ruthless and would no doubt try their best to turn him evil or something worse. 

"There has to be something we can do!" Casey cried out, her fist shaking in the air.

"There is," Mia said quietly. Casey looked at her hopefully, then her hope faded to disappointment when Mia continued. "We stay here and wait for them. They'll come back. I know they will. We have to believe the Ronin Warriors will win and defeat the Dynasty."

Casey sighed in defeat and nodded as she slumped on the couch. She wished she had some powers to help fight the Dynasty. But she didn't have any and so she was forced to wait with Mia. 

Silence filled the room again for several long moments. All that was heard was a bird chirping outside, a dog barking down the street, and the ticking of the clock on the wall. Finally Mia looked at Casey. "Want to play cards to pass the time?"

Casey shrugged and sat up more. "Sure. Like what?"

Mia thought for a few moments. "About All Fours?" she suggested. 

Casey nodded. "Sounds good to me."

Mia got the pack of cards out, shuffled them, then passed six cards to Casey and kept six for herself. She, then, laid the other cards faced down, and picked up one card to view it. It was a three of diamonds. Satisfied with it, she said, "Stand," and the game began.

Silently the two girls played, concentrating on their moves and what cards they wanted to use in their hand. 

Time passed slowly, but they didn't notice. The game continued on, and by the middle of the game, they had stopped worrying so much about the Ronins.

When the game was over, Mia had won. 

"Well, now what?" Casey asked.

Mia was thinking as she put the cards away. "Well, what about a movie or something?" She was trying do anything to keep their minds off the boys, though she was worried herself.

Casey shrugged. "I guess. What movie though?"

"You pick," Mia told her.

Casey got off the couch and went to the movie rack, reading all of the titles one by one as she tried to make up her mind. 

Mia put the cards away and waited patiently as Casey was making her decision. Finally Casey pulled one out. "How bout this one? she asked as she held it up for Mia to see.

Mia stared at the title. The Horse Whisperer. She nodded, knowing Casey could never pass up to see a horse movie, no matter how many times she had seen it. Casey turned the television on and stuck the tape into the VCR.

Mia went out into the kitchen to make them both a snack and poured a glass of tea for each of them. When she returned the movie was just starting.

"Thanks," Casey said as she grabbed a tortilla chip and dipped it into the cheese before eating it. Her eyes were glued to the screen.

"No problem," Mia said as she sat down and focused her attention on the movie. 

Rowen's eyes widened when he heard the screams. That was all it took for him to start running full speed toward the castle.

The other Ronins had no trouble catching up to him though as they themselves had heard Sage's screams. That set them all on fire with the anger. The Dynasty was going to pay. 

More Dynasty soldiers appeared, but the Ronins took them out like before. Nothing was going to stop them this time. 

"Man, Talpa will pay for hurting Sage!" Kento bellowed as he blue eyes flashed in anger.

"Damn right, he will!" Ryo said.

The four of them continued to run across bridges and leveled ground, passing buildings, and destroying soldiers along the way. When they finally reached the castle, all of them were ready for a good fight.

"Open the doors, Kento," Rowen suddenly ordered. It wasn't usual for Rowen to give an order, but the bearer of Strata was too angry and too worried about his friend to care at the moment.

Kento nodded and went to open the doors, when they suddenly opened by themselves.

They stared into the darkness, seeing the long hall that appeared to go on forever behind the doors. Ryo stepped forward slightly. "Be careful, guys," he warned. "This could be a trap."

"Now what gave you that idea?" Cye asked sarcastically.

Ryo didn't answer him. His eyes darted back and forth. "Ok, stay close together and don't get separated."

The others nodded and followed in after him. They hurried down the hall, sticking close to one another, and keeping their eyes peeled for any danger. When they had walked at least six blocks in the castle, they suddenly found themselves in a room that joined other halls to itself. It was wide, with stoned walls, burning candles that gave a bit of light, and had gargoyle heads on all four walls.

Then suddenly they felt three familiar unwanted presences. All of them pressed back against each other, holding their weapons out, ready to defend themselves.

Cale, Anubis, and Dais chucked as they had them surrounded.

"Well, I'm surprised to see you have made it this far, Ronins," Anubis said with a grin. 

"You came all this way to die. How touching," Dais said in mock sweetness.

"But not before Master Talpa can take away your armors!" Cale said.

The Ronins glared at them.

"Talpa will never have our armors!" Ryo seethed. "We made a promise to crush the Dynasty and Talpa will be history!"

"You said that the last two times, Wildfire," Anubis said as if bored.

"Is it my fault, he doesn't know how to give up?" Ryo retorted.

"True," Anubis said with a shrug. "But know this, you Ronins won't be leaving the Dynasty ever. So spare yourself some trouble. Surrender."

"Not on your bloody life!" Cye snapped. 

"Yeah!" Kento agreed.

"Now let Sage and Thunder go!" Rowen demanded.

Anubis sighed heavily, then chuckled. "I guess we have no choice then.. Quake With Fear!"

The Ronins dodged out of the way, just barely getting struck by it. Luckily Ryo remembered how Anubis attacked worked and he called his surekill canceling their enemy's attack.

"Well done, Wildfire," Anubis said as he drew his weapon back.

Ryo's answer was a heated glare.

"My turn," Cale said. "Black Lightning Slash!" 

His attack went out and seized Kento, holding him fast and shocking him with dark energy. Kento grunted and refused to cry out, but the pain was almost unbearable.

"You monster!" Rowen snarled, as he lit a bow onto his arrow. "Arrow Shock Wave!" 

Before Cale could even realize it, Rowen's attack struck him against the chest and sent him flying back against the wall. The Warlord of Corruption slumped over.

"Web of Deception!" Dais cried out. His attack went forward and suddenly wrapped against Rowen, encasing him tightly and shocking him each time he struggled.

"Rowen!" Ryo cried out. Before he could get to Rowen, Anubis had attacked him. The two fought as hard as they could, each one trying to outdo the other. As they fought, both Cye and Kento, who had recovered from Cale's attack were fighting against Dais, but it seemed to be a hopeless situation. Dais knocked Cye backward, then grabbed Kento by the throat and slammed his knee where the one place a man fears to be targeted at the most. Kento choked out in a strangled cry between a loud groan and yell. 

Dais chuckled. "You Ronins can't win, so surrender."

"N..n..never!" Kento managed to choke out. 

"Have it your way then," Dais said without a care. He raised his weapon up again to attack.

Rowen could see his friends were losing, and knew he had to do something, but what? Anubis had Ryo pinned against the wall and was beating him, and though Ryo was fighting back to defend himself it seemed like Anubis had the upper hand. Cye looked to be unconscious, but no, the Ronin of Torrent was getting up. That was one relief right there, but Kento was about to get a stronger attack from Dais. Something had to be done.

As if in answer to his plea, a bright light shot through the room, blinding everyone.

"My eyes!" Dais cried turning away from Kento.

Anubis backed away from Ryo, shielding his eyes and cursing loudly. 

The Ronins all looked at each other. What was going on? they wondered. And then to their astonishment the Warlords disappeared quickly, including the unconscious Cale. When they had disappeared, Rowen was free from Dais webbing, and the light had faded away.

"What happened?" Cye asked.

Before anyone could answer, they heard a familiar voice.

"Am I glad to see you four!"

"Thunder!" Ryo cried in relief. Then he noticed his tiger. "White Blaze!" He knelt before the tiger and patted his head.

"Thunder, are you okay?" Rowen asked the boy.

"Yes, I'm fine. But I don't think Sage is," Thunder replied with a deep frown of concern.

"We know," Rowen said with a hint of anger in his voice. "But answer this, how did you manage to escape?"

"The tiger helped me to. He has this strange jewel around his neck."

Ryo picked up the jewel White Blaze was wearing. "Oh, the Jewel of Life. I actually forgot Yulie had put this on White Blaze when they were playing this game of theirs."

Thunder blinked a bit.

Ryo's eyes narrowed though. "Come on though. It's time to free Sage and destroy Talpa once and for all."

Talpa was taking a break from beating Sage now. The Warrior Halo was slumped stomach down on the floor, feeling dazed and whimpering quietly in pain now and then. His whole back was on fire and he would have given almost anything to be spared from the agony.

Talpa was seated on his throne down, smiling to himself. Then he felt a presence. "Who comes here?"

"It is I, Badamon, lord."

"Come, Badamon," Talpa beckoned.

Badamon appeared in full view and floated over Sage and bowed to Talpa as he stood, or rather floated before him. "I have brought news about the other prisoner, lord Talpa."

"Yes?" Talpa said eagerly, yet calmly.

"The boy can heal, lord. He has the power to heal any mortal or immortal out there no matter how the injury was inflicted. He can also bring the dead back to life."

"Really?" Talpa said, now more interested.

"Yes, but unfortunately it only works on those who had been killed by violence. But luckily, it can work no matter how long ago the victim was slain. And he cannot die by violence himself." Badamon explained.

"I see," Talpa said as he grinned widely. "Then he'll make the perfect slave for me once I defeat the Ronins!"

"Dream on, Dynasty scum!"

Talpa immediately lifted his eyes past Badamon, and the high priest whirled around. There stood the four Ronin Warriors, the boy Thunder, and Wildfire's beast. Before Badamon could do anything, the light from the Jewel of Life struck against him and he became obsolete. Talpa growled, looking at them, then glanced at Thunder. How had he escaped? No matter, once the Ronins were destroyed he would be back where he belonged. Just for the fun of it, he might even keep all the Ronins alive just to torture them every day of their pathetic lives. 

"Let Sage go, Talpa!" Ryo ordered. 

Talpa stood up. "I don't think so," he said. "Halo is mine, and the rest of you will be as well.

"You can't capture all of us! We defeated you before, we can do it again!" Rowen told him.

Talpa said nothing, but he suddenly grew three times his normal size. Thunder's eyes widen with shock, but he couldn't say anything.

Ryo looked at him. "If you have an armor I suggest you put it on now."

Thunder nodded and lifted one arm up while titling his face toward the sky. "Armor of the Warrior! Now Come!" A bright red light engulfed him as his armor formed on him. It was red with black designs, a material similar to a skier's clothing, but more protective though it was lightweight and flexible. The protective guard came down over his waist and lower back, covering his vulnerable parts, a black spiked guard appeared on either armor near the shoulders, his chest plate added more protection and had stubby black spike there, his boots came up almost to his knees and were black, a black hip guard covered the sides of his body, and a red helmet with two black horns on either side appeared over his head, adding the final piece of the armor. A large sword appeared before him, and he flipped it up, ready for battle now. 

Talpa laughed. "Do you Ronins really think you can defeat me this time! I will wipe you out and your armors will be mine!"

"Never!" Ryo shouted. "Guys, let's get ready!"

"Yeah!" the others chorused. The battle began. Talpa struck out against Kento knocking him backward with a single blow. He then sideswiped Rowen and knocked him against a wall underneath a burning torch.

Cye called his surekill on Talpa but it had no effect on him at all. With backward blow, Cye went flying backward.

"You see, Wildfire," Talpa said as he waved his massive sword back and forth before Ryo. "You and your Ronins cannot defeat me this time. With Halo out of the picture for the time being, there is no way you can call on your Inferno armor."

Ryo glared at him, and just attacked again and again. The two enemies fought, leaping at each other in a spark of energy and fire, striking their swords against each other again and again. Talpa began pushing Ryo back, getting further and further from Sage.

White Blaze, seeing his chance, immediately pressed the Jewel of Life against Sage's chains. The chains disappeared, and the tiger looked up at Thunder with knowing eyes.

Thunder watched Talpa and Ryo fight viciously, then turned his attention to Sage. He had to help him. He placed his hands on Sage and closed his eyes, as he glowed red, and his symbol, a lightning bolt flashed brightly on his forehead. With his healing power, Sage's injuries and pain disappeared, and Sage opened his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Talpa and Ryo are fighting," Thunder explained, then he quickly healed the others, hoping that Talpa wouldn't knock Ryo away and stop him before he had the chance to. Thankfully, Talpa was quite busy with Ryo. The two were still fighting. Talpa had slammed Ryo against a wall, and Ryo grunted in pain, then quickly called his attack, setting Talpa on fire.. Talpa had staggered back and shook the fire from him, and then suddenly knocked Ryo down. 

Ryo's swords flew out of his hands and landed several feet away from him, as Talpa stood over him, prepared to finish him off.

"Guys!" Rowen cried out. "The Inferno!"

The four Ronins nodded their heads and together sent their energy to Ryo. Talpa could nothing to stop it. Wildfire's armor was stripped from him, and the Inferno armor was formed. A powerful blast knocked Talpa back a bit, and White Blaze transformed to Black Blaze. With a mighty roar the tiger in his own white armor leapt over Ryo, and Ryo quickly drew the Soul Swords of Fervor.

"You're finished, Talpa!"

Rowen made Thunder step back.

"Not this again," Talpa groaned.

Ryo raised the swords up. "Rage of Inferno!"

The attack went out and enveloped Talpa from head to toe. They heard his screams, but they weren't screams of pain, they were screams of revenge. They noticed that Talpa seemed to be struggling against the attack. This was something new, but then the Jewel of Life suddenly glowed brightly and struck against Talpa. There was a strange whirring sound, and then suddenly Talpa exploded. 

When the light cleared, all of them looked toward where Talpa had once been.

"You did it, Ryo!" Rowen cheered.

"Third time in a row!" Kento applauded.

"I couldn't have it done it without you guys," Ryo said to his fellow Ronins, and not without Thunder healing you, and not without White Blaze/Black Blaze." He transformed back to the Wildfire armor and Black Blaze again became White Blaze. Ryo looked up. "Let's go home."

Casey and Mia both jumped up when the door opened. Kento came in first, followed by Sage, then Cye, then Rowen, then Thunder, and then finally Thunder and White Blaze.

"You're back!" Casey cried out.

"Yep, and we defeated Talpa too," Ryo said.

Mia looked over at Sage and Thunder. "Are you two okay?"

Sage nodded. "Yeah, Talpa beat the crap out of me, but Thunder healed me. I don't know what they did to him though."

"They didn't do much," Thunder said quietly. "They just found out what I can do, of what I had already told you."

"Well, at least Talpa is gone, so we don't have to worry about him anymore," Cye said.

"Let's just hope he stays gone too," Kento grumbled.

"And since he is gone, will it be safe for me to go back to my hosts in the morning?" Thunder asked.

Ryo nodded. "Yes. In fact Mia and I can drive you back."

"Thank you," Thunder said graciously.

They all split up. Kento went to make himself something, Casey and Rowen cuddled up to each other on the couch, Ryo showed Thunder the room he'd be sleeping in, Sage went to shower, and Mia sat down to relax.

Sage finished his shower and got dressed, then found Thunder downstairs watching TV. He cleared his throat. "Say, Thunder, would you like to practice Kendo with me?"

Thunder grinned. It was the first they had seen him smile, and it was a beautiful smile, the kind that could make most girls fall over. Of course any of the boys in Mia's house could make girls fall over. 

The two blonds each grabbed a sword and headed out into the backyard to practice together.

It was the start of a friendship that would last until the end of time.

(A/N: I'm finished! Finally! And yes, I know this chapter was really long, but I really wanted to get this fic done with so I didn't bother to separate this into more chapters. Please review! Ciao!)


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